Tracing The Sparks
by Chrissymkgh
Summary: Due to questionable reasons, Heather finds herself in Mystic Falls. She knows she does not belong here. She's not part of this story and doesn't want to be. Heather has her own goal and it does not involve getting mixed up with these characters or their drama. Can she avoid playing her part when the Salvatore brothers take an interest in her?
1. Drowning In Memories

A/N: Hi all, this is the first time I am writing in a 1st POV. I wanted to give it a try and expand on learning different writing techniques. I am also usually not one for the rules, but I am trying to follow them on this one. Please feel free to throw some pointers at me or review on what you think of the plot. Thanks for checking it out. :)

Musical Inspiration:

Losing Your Memory - by Ryan Star

(Linkable play list in profile under TTS)

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Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 1

Drowning In Memories

~[^^^]~

Taraxacum... dandelions, most people would see them as a weed that signaled it was time to cut their lawn, but to the women in my family, the small flower encouraged the second sight. Both my grandmother and mother taught me at an early age the importance of plants. It was not only for their medicinal benefits or the beauty of them, but for their magical properties as well.

When my mother first pointed them out to me, she explained how the bloomed yellow flowers would close themselves up tight and turn into the white puffy seed head that would continue to spread it's life elsewhere. "Heather," she would say, "close your eyes and make a wish. If you can blow all the little seeds away in one breath, your wish will come true."

Till this day, I still make wishes on dandelions, but my only wish is to have my mother back.

Kneeling in the grass, I took my time stripping the flower's stem of it's leaves and ignored the odd looks from passersby. Placing them in a baggie, I stood to brush the dirt from my jeans and stepped back onto the stone walkway. It was the same walkway I had come to know very well over the past year and it led directly to the front door of Bayview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

I have a tendency of getting sidetracked, but I really couldn't help myself. As soon as I saw the dandelions on the building's lawn... they screamed tea leaves. Focusing back on my reason for being here, I prepared myself and walked through the electronic glass door. The smell hit me instantly. It was a mixture of of stale air, bleach, and a touch of urine. I hated this place. Though it was one of the more upscale nursing homes, it couldn't camouflage the impending disease and death. Continuing on, I knew the smell would only become stronger once I reached the second level. The first floor of the building was only used for those undergoing rehabilitation.

Giving the receptionist a smile as I past, I quickly made my way into the elevator and carefully pushed the number two on the panel. The number three button always unsettles me. I know that only those waiting for death reside on that floor and I dreaded the day I would have to switch numbers. Hearing the ding of my destination, I stepped out and made my way straight to the nurse's station. There, I found my favorite aide.

Barb was the kindest nurse I had come into contact with during my visits here. I had found out during one of our chats that she grew up on a farm and took on this career choice after her own parent became ill. She had a bulky frame that I imagine was built up over time from lifting patients from their beds. Her tightly curled dark hair was pulled into a ponytail while her reading glasses rested on the top of her head. Dressed in her brown scrubs, Barb leaned over the desk shuffling through papers before she looked up at me.

"Heather." She smiled. "On time as usual I see."

Dropping my elbows onto the counter that circled the nurse's station, I addressed her. "Hey Barb, how's she doing today?"

Looking down, the nurse straightened a stack of papers before stapling them together. "She's having a good day." Bringing her focus back to me, she continued. "Minnie's had her shower and she participated in the charades game they played in the dining hall. She's back in her room now. An orderly should be in soon with her dinner."

"Okay." As I turned to leave, she spoke again.

"Congrats on graduating. Next stop is college, where the **real** fun begins," she said with a hint of deviousness to her voice.

 _This woman must have some serious college tales... metal note, pry them from her later._ "Thanks, looking forward to it." I gave her a smile while backing away with a wave.

Following my usual path and reaching her room, I entered to see my grandmother sitting on the bed staring out the window. Not wanting to startle her, I took a slow approach. I rested my hand on her shoulder and watched as she turned to face me. Even though her hair had grayed with age, it was still full and lively. Her big brown eyes stood out in comparison to her thin lips. Anyone could tell by looking at her that she was beautiful in her youth.

The sign of recognition lit up her soft aged face and made me smile in relief. _She still knows me._ My grandmother's diagnosis at 58 was a surprise to her doctors. They deemed it a young age for the onset of symptoms to appear. This disease ran in my family and I selfishly feared I would have the same fate. Her memories were slipping fast, but I was thrilled to see she was in fact having a good day.

After moving down and hugging her, I inched over to sit on a chair in the corner that faced her. "Hi Mom-mom."

Her features continued to soften as she looked me over. "Heather, it's so good to see you. It's been so long."

"It's only been a week." I grinned. I knew she had difficulty with time. _I need to start marking off my visits on her calendar._ "I heard you played charades today. Did you have fun?"

"Mm." She nodded with a hum. "The gentleman who comes here to run activities is funny and he is quite dashing like your grandfather was." She sighed as she fiddled with her necklace. "I do miss my Charlie."

"Mom told me all about the legendary adventures of Minnie and Charlie."

My grandmother let out a hearty chuckle. "This town didn't know what hit em. Those Jersey Shore kids had nothing on us."

"Mom-mom," I said, unable to keep the amusement from my tone, "have you been watching reality TV again?"

"Only when they let me change the channel. I can't believe this is what our state has become. The boardwalk really has gone to hell."

I nodded in agreement. I did enjoy living in New Jersey, but the town we lived in was classic suburbia. It was nothing like the area near the beach. Absently patting my purse, I suddenly recalled what I had brought with me. Opening it up and shuffling through, I pulled out a small satchel and a yellow candle. With the satchel in hand, I stood and stole the pillow on her bed. Separating it from it's cover, I slid the small bag of herbs inside it and replaced it in it's original spot.

After noticing my grandmother's wry smile, I pointed at it. "I brought you an Euphrasia mixture I made. It will give you some good dreams." The night prior, I had spent my time crushing the dried plant into a powder and infusing it with other herbs. _Anything to help._

"Eyebright, heh?" she confirmed. "It just so happens to help with concentration and memory as well. Same goes for the yellow candle you have sitting there." She gestured to the desk. "I'm wise to what your doing, child," she said with an all to knowing look.

 _Busted._ I had been looking for Wiccan spells and ingredients that would prolong her memory since she was diagnosed. "Or... maybe I just wanted you to be able to have a dream foretelling that you will win at bingo." I shrugged nonchalantly and veered over to place the candle in it's holder. Lighting it, I heard her give a laughable snort.

"I never win at bingo. That haughty Ethel Simmons always wins. Between you and me..." She leaned closer and lowered her voice. "I think it's because she's doing the 'boogie woogie' with Mitch the bingo caller."

Opening my mouth, I could feel my face shrivel up. "Ew. Mom-mom." She just looked at me passively and smoothed out the blanket next to her. Hearing a small knock, we both looked to the door to see a man walking in with a tray. When he saw I was there, he gave me a goofy smile.

"Hello Heather," the orderly started as he placed the tray down on the adjustable table and pushed it to my grandmother. He greeted her before bringing his attention back to me and began to fidget. "How have you been?"

"Fine, thanks." I smiled brightly and batted my eyelashes a bit. I couldn't remember his name. I knew it was something like Bobby or Barry. He was only a few years older than me and always gave off a nervous demeanor. "Did you get a haircut? It looks good."

"Yeah... yeah I did," he stuttered out and blushed a bit. "Well... I should get back. It's nice to see you again." As quickly as he came in, he went rushing out the door.

I bit back a laugh and shook my head while my grandmother gave me a disapproving look. "Why do you do that to him?"

Gesturing to her tray, I pointed my finger at it. "Because it gives you an extra pudding." I waved her off, it wasn't a big deal. More flies with honey and all that.

As she ate, I stood from my seat and walked around her room. I paused at her dresser and gazed upon the family pictures she had spread out. My eyes immediately went to the one of my mother and I. She looked so vibrant in it while I happily stood beside her. I know I am bias, but I always thought my mother was exquisitely attractive and eagerly wanted compliments that I looked like her. In comparison, my hair was a darker auburn while my mothers was a fiery red but... we had the same button nose and pronounced cheekbones. I grew into my height to be an inch shorter than her 5'7 and though I didn't have her grey blue eyes, I did inherit my grandmother's brown.

It has been six years since I had last seen my mother. One day she just disappeared and the police never found any evidence of foul play. My father tried to convince me that she left us and was never coming back. I knew better though and have yet to give up on her.

The thoughts of my father brought my eyes to the newest picture on the dresser. I glared at the Perkin's family portrait taken only a few short months ago. It consisted of my father, Steven, the lawyer, his newest wife, Georgia... who's smugness never wore off her face, her son, Nico, and myself. I'm the only one that didn't quite fit in with the three of them and their various shades of blond hair.

When I turned to check on my grandmother, I noticed she had finished picking at her food and was staring at me with an intense look on her face. "What phase is it tonight?" she asked.

"Let's see..." I walked over to her calendar on the wall and checked the date. "Full moon."

"Ah," she mumbled. "June moon... the lovers moon, it was always my favorite." Pushing her table to the side, she patted the spot next to her on the bed. "Come sit."

Fulfilling her request, I moved beside her and sat down. She shifted to face me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Turn around." Confused, I followed her lead until I was staring at her headboard. I suddenly felt her hands around my neck and warmness hitting the center of my chest. Fingering the charm, I could now tell she was hooking a necklace behind me.

I turned back quickly in surprise. I knew by the feel and shape, it was the necklace she had always worn. I had never seen her without it and knew it was in our family for generations. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry and I had always admired it. It consisted of five stones set in petrified wood. "Mom-mom... I can't accept this. You love this necklace."

She shook her head. "I love you more and it's finally your time." Placing both hands on my cheeks she looked at me with glazed eyes and placed a kiss on my forehead. As I watched her inch away, I was taken back by her expression. She closed her lids tightly and after a few deep breaths... she opened her eyes. I noticed quickly that something was off as she stared at me with a blank face.

"Are you okay?" I placed a hand on my grandmother's arm to comfort her.

She flinched at my touch and jumped up from her spot on the bed. "Who are you? What are you doing in my room?"

"Mom-mom, it's alright, calm down." I tried to keep my voice soft while on the inside I was panicking. "It's me Heather... your granddaughter."

"You..." She pointed at me forcefully. "You are not my granddaughter." Scurrying to the door, she looked around wildly. "Nurse... nurse, help, someone broke into my room!"

Even though I tried to prepare myself for this day, I still felt the pain of that comment rip through me. Keeping my tears at bay, I attempted again to calm her down. Every step I took, my grandmother took a step back. I stopped when Barb came bursting through the door like she was trying to put out a fire.

Looking around, the nurse was panting heavily. "What's going on in here?"

"Her..." My grandmother pointed at me again. "Get her out of here!"

Barb shook her head. "Minnie," she began as she put her hands on her hips. "That's your granddaughter."

"NO IT"S NOT!" She yelled and put a hand to her chest to calm her heart. "Please, get her out!" she begged, "Please."

"I'll go." Heartbroken, I put my hands up in defeat as the nurse tried to reason with me. I reached for my purse and blew out the candle I had lit. Before I walked out, I turned to my grandmother one last time. "I love you." With that, I left the building with the goal to keep myself composed. With each stride to the parking lot, I felt like I was losing the battle and my eyes overflowed with tears.

~[^^^]~

I'm not sure how long I've been sitting in the driveway staring at my darkened family home. If the temperature inside my car is any indication, it's been awhile. Turning the knob to lower the cool air that pumped through the vents, I inspected the goosebumps on my arm and a shiver ran through me.

Shutting down the engine, I reached for my purse on the passenger seat and exited my car. After jiggling my keys to get the front door open, I punched in the security code and flicked the light switch. The chandelier illuminated the main hall and the newest tacky paintings my stepmother purchased stared back at me. My face took on a familiar scowl while I strained my ears for any sounds within the house. Figuring I was safe, I went to the kitchen to grab a drink.

Once there, I noticed a credit card on the counter with small slip of paper. _I know that handwriting all to well._

 ** _'Heather and Nico - We are in Atlantic City.'_**

"It's the weekend... of course you are." I felt myself tightening my grip around the small paper.

 ** _'Use the credit card as needed and call if there is an emergency. - Mom and Dad'_**

Forcefully rolling up the note into a ball and throwing it over my shoulder, I snatched the card up for safe keeping. I pulled out a soda from the fridge and trudged the distance to my room. Once I climbed the staircase, the realization hit that the note said Heather and... Nico. _Shit,_ _is my stepbrother here?_ Instantly, my mouth went dry and my palms began to sweat. I switched directions in a panic and tiptoed towards his bedroom.

The door was ajar so I peeked my head in slowly. My body physically relaxed when I saw the room was completely dark. _Thank goodness, he's not home._ Relieved, I turned, ran to my bedroom, and locked myself in.

Leaning against the door, I let out a sigh. _Ah... sanctuary._ I love my room, it took years to get it to be perfectly Zen. My blue walls and pristine white furniture were my calming oasis. Kicking off my shoes and placing them at the bottom of my closet, I hung up my purse and drifted over to my bed. Laying there, I stared up at my canopy replaying the day's events.

 _Why today? She was doing so well... why forget who I am today?_ Mom-mom was the last link I had to my mother. She was the only family I feel I had left. My dad will never accept me and my ways. That means I will continue to go on hiding them, just as my mom did. My father being raised a very strict religion will always see my beliefs as being evil.

Opening my side drawer, I pulled out my mom's journal. The thing was chuck full of information. Her thoughts, spells, mixtures of different herbs, her practices... it was one of the few things I had left of her. Before I could open the thick book, my cell phone began to ring. Looking down at the ID, I smiled and hit the speaker button.

"Heather's dojo... how may I help you?"

"Hey Baby, I been trying to get a hold of you all day. Where ya been?"

Feeling my brows pull together, I thought those words over... _I didn't remember any missed calls._ "I'm sorry Phil, I've been busy with my grandmother. She um... she hasn't been doing to well."

"That sucks... but listen, Crystal's having everyone over at the shore house. You should come down." I could hear laughing in the background, and I knew instantly it was the hostess herself. My best friend's voice chimed through the phone. "Tell that bitch she better get her ass over here, she missed my last get together."

"Love ya too Cris." I couldn't help but laugh before Phil's tone came back.

"So you coming or what?"

I took a long drawn out breath as I rubbed my head. Beer pong and songs on repeat were not how I wanted to spend my evening. "I'm gonna pass and hang out here this weekend."

I could hear my boyfriend groaning into the phone. "Heth, we haven't spent any time together since graduation."

"I know and I'm sorry. Tell you what, the next spontaneous thing you come up with after this weekend... we'll do. No if's, and's, or but's from me. We'll just go. Okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." He exhaled. I'm sure he was probably smoking a cigarette even though he said he quit. "I'll call you when I get home. Enjoy your weekend."

"You too." As I ended the call, I couldn't help feeling a little bad for not going. I knew it for the best though, I would have been miserable and ended up being a downer.

Sitting up on my bed and giving myself a quick stretch, I decided that a bath sounded like a good idea. Grabbing my phone and the journal, I padded my way to the bathroom. Bathes were probably my only girly pleasure and for a night like this... I made sure I did it up right. I lined the tiled floor with a variety of candles and turned the faucet on in the tub to a strong hot stream. I opened the box I had hidden under my sink and pulled out one of the remaining infusions my mother made.

Taking off the lid and smelling the liquid inside the small vile, I couldn't help but smile at her skill for creating beautiful scents. I didn't understand the language on the tiny label, but the aroma was intoxicating enough. Pouring it into the bath water, I shimmied off my clothes and set my phone into the dock. I pulled up my playlist of music and hit shuffle before stepping into the now full tub.

Leaning back, the water felt heavenly on my muscles as I rested and let my mind go. I tried to think of my college plans, but my thoughts would always linger back to my grandmother. It did not help when the song 'losing your memory' began to filter through the room. _Oh, the irony._ Frustrated, I reached over the side of the tub and picked up the journal. I would focus on clues to find my mother.

Opening the book to the last entry, I read it over for what seemed like the 100th time. I practically had the whole page memorized. It read out like a ritual of sorts with the instructions and words spoken. I have tried so many times to understand the meaning and figure out what she was working on, but it still left me puzzled. I often would find myself wondering if this last page had something to do with why she disappeared.

*"Inspice, et ad aquilonem, meridiem dicitur a plaga orientali usque ad plagam maris. Aqua, ignis, terra, aeris, spiritus est. Tolle de terra quam intraturi indigent. Fiat, fiat." As I read the foreign words out loud, the candles began to flicker. _The air conditioner must have just kicked on._ Annoyed with learning nothing new, I put the book on the floor and slid back further into the hot water. I felt completely comfortable... so much so, I hadn't noticed how sleepy I was.

As I strained to keep my lids open, I vaguely noticed the room getting darker and the smell of sulfur invading my nose. _The central air must have blown out the candles completely._ Feeling to content to move, I closed my eyes...

...

 _I can't breath!_ Panic blankets me as I claw through the water. _There is so much of it... how can I be this deep?_ It's so dark and I can't see anything. All I can feel is my body under pressure from the depths of water surrounding me. Fear takes hold now as I know I am drowning. No matter how much I kick I can't feel which direction is up. _I need air!_ Feeling the pain of my constricted lungs, water began to creep into my throat. A hand wrapping itself around my wrist brings me some hope. Someone is leading me in a different direction. Now that I have my inner balance back, I kick my feet in the direction of the surface.

The air hits my face and I immediately try to expel the water I swallowed. Through my coughing fit, I can feel a strong arm wrapped around my waist and it drags me to shore. As the water becomes more shallow, I take in my surroundings to find I am outside. It appears I am in a lake that borders a forest. The only light that I can make out is coming from a bridge not to far away. _How on earth did I get here?_

Falling onto the soft dirt, my coughing continues and I try to gain some stability. As I hold onto the seam of my dress for warmth, I notice a girl to my side with long dark hair. She appears to have been pulled from the water as well. Any fear I may have had about her being dead vanishes with the sight of her chest rising and falling. With movement catching the edge of my vision, I attempt look up to meet the gaze of my savior.

I raised my pounding head slowly to see boots followed by the rest of his wet attire. It was to dark to make out his features, but he somehow looked familiar. What stood out the most though... was his expression. It was one of surprise and shock.

"Daphne?"

That was all I heard before my oxygen lacked brain shut down and I fell into an abyss of darkness.

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Have I piqued any interest? What do you think of the OC? Reviews are always helpful :D

*Latin to English translation - Examine them, and to the north, the south is called, from the east side even unto the west side of the sea. Water, fire, earth, air, is spirit. Take out of the land, into which I have need of. So be it.


	2. We're Not In Jersey Anymore

A/N: Thanks to those who Fav/Followed/Reviewed. I decided to make this a Stefan/OC because there isn't many of them and Stef needs some luv too. lol :D

Musical Inspiration:

Closer - by Kings Of Leon

(Playlist in profile)

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Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 2

We're Not In Jersey Anymore

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The faint sound of bells chiming into a melody awaken my conscious. I strain my ears to place it and come to the conclusion I am hearing Brahms' Lullaby. Before I can let the soothing sound lull me back into unconsciousness, I feel myself jostled by the sudden disruption. 'Doctor Simmons to the OR, Doctor Simmons to the OR.'

I felt my muscles tense and sprung upward. Blinking my eyes and frantically looking around, I observe monitors to my right that are increasing their rhythm with every breath I take. To the side, an upright pole hangs a bag of fluids. With careful inspection, I can see the tubing that runs the length is attached to the taped needle inserted atop my hand. Pushing down my instinct to rip it out, I distract myself with my continued exploration of my surroundings. On the table to the left, I notice some balloons that appear to be sagging low and a plant that has begun to brown. More importantly, I see a pink jug which I assume has water in it. I'm instantly reminded how dry my throat is and eagerly poor myself a drink.

 _How cliché to wake up in a hospital and have no idea how I got here._ Seeking my answers, I rustled the thin blanket covering my legs to search for some type of call button.

"You're awake!"

I snapped my head up to look at my visitor. I'm surprised to find a middle aged stranger walking towards me with a cup of coffee. His unshaven face took the form of joy and relief. He was a nice looking man with a kind smile and tired brown eyes. Amongst his short mahogany hair, a few gray hairs stood out.

"I'm so happy you finally woke up, Sweetheart," he said as he lowered his cup to the table and flung a plaid jacket over the back of the chair. "The doctors... they just didn't know when. I was so worried, Heather."

Feeling my eyes widen, I noticed he was inching forward to hug me. As quick as I was able, I scooted back away from him. My brain was in full alert mode now. _Stranger danger... stranger danger!_ I slide my hands around the bed. _Where the hell is that nurse's call button?_

The man leaned back and tilted his head in confusion. He actually looked hurt by my actions. _Well, he should know better. Who in their right mind goes around hugging unknown hospital patients?_ Feeling the long rubber cord in my hand, I smile in victory and push the shit out of that button.

Trying to look threatening, I narrowed my eyes at the room stranger. "Look, Buddy, I don't know who you are... but there will be a nurse in here any moment. I suggest you see your way out."

"Heather." He tried to reach for my hand before I swiped it away. "It's me, it's Daddy."

"Okay, Perv, I don't know what kind of medication you skipped, but you are not my father and you need to leave this instant." A small grin slipped out when I could see that he actually looked scared. Thinking over self defense moves in my head, I wondered if I could handle him if I had to. _Oh yeah, I could totally take him._ So... that was a lie, but it made me feel better.

Finally, a nurse moseyed her way in. _Oh thank goodness, I'm saved._ The psychotic man bolted towards her. "Call the doctor, tell him it's an emergency!"

I watched as my salvation ran out the door. _No... how could she leave me alone with this guy. Coward._ Long moments passed on but thankfully the stranger kept his distance, even if he was keeping a watchful eye on me. A knock on the door ended our staring contest and a portly Asian man in a lab coat appeared. The two men talked in hushed tones before the doctor approached me.

"Hello, Heather, I'm your physician, Doctor Wen. I would like to ask you some questions." I looked to my stranger who still lingered in the room before nodding. The doctor clicked his pen and raised his clipboard. "Can you tell me your full name?"

"Heather Jolene Perkins."

"Um... hm." He began to scribble on his board. "And, how old are you?"

"I'm 18... will be 19 next month."

I watched how the doctor and stranger gave each other an odd look before the questions resumed. "What's today's date?"

I had to think about that for a moment, it seemed like some time had passed since the evening of my bath. I also wasn't sure what to make of the strange dream of being pulled out of the lake. "The last day I remember was June 7th."

The meaningless questions droned on. It was making me restless and I felt it was high time I got my own answers. Putting my hand up to stop him, I interrupted his assessment. "Can you tell me what happened to me?"

Putting his clipboard down, the doctor let out a long sigh. "You were brought into the ER suffering from hypoxia due to a near drowning. Your blood had extremely low levels of oxygen and in turn, it caused your brain to swell. You have been in a coma for some time now."

 _Well, shit... I was not expecting that._ "I fell asleep in the tub." I nodded in recollection.

"No, Heather," the stranger finally spoke up. "You and Elena... your best friend, were in the car with her parents when it went over Wickery Bridge. You almost drowned in the lake. Amazingly, you and her made it out alive."

I furrowed my brows in concentration. "I thought that was a dream." I realized I said that out loud when the stranger confirmed it was not. _Why does this scenario seem so familiar?_ Shaking my head, I looked to the man and became annoyed once again. "Who are you?"

Looking to the doctor for permission that was granted, he softened his features as he studied me. "I told you, Heather, I'm your father. My name is Robert Ellis Bradbury. You are my daughter Heather Jolene Bradbury. It's August 31, you were in the coma for your birthday last month where you turned 17. You're starting your junior year in high school and you have lived here in Mystic Falls your whole life."

 _Whoa_ _, hold up_. "Did you say Mystic Falls?" My fake dad nodded, and I laughed. Yes, it may be a little cruel, but I can't help it. _This guy is a nutter._ "Been watching a little to much of the CW?" Calming, I turned to the physician. "You really need to write him a prescription, Doc."

"Heather." My doctor leaned forward with a perplexed look. "I assure you, this man is your father and everything he said is true. I know it may not seem real, but I believe you are suffering from amnesia and your mind is filling the gaps with false information. What we are telling you is the true facts."

Okay, that sobered me a bit... my light mood stopped instantly. _Why is the doctor jumping on this crazy train? Is this some kind of joke?_ I doubted a TV show would prank a girl who was actually hurt and laying in a hospital bed, so these people must be twisted. I looked at the pair of them and tried to keep the mistrust out of my gaze. "I'd like to be alone."

"I think that would be best." Dr. Wen patted my arm. "We will give you some time to take all this new information in."

I watched as the doctor led my reluctant impostor dad out of the room. Once I was sure they were gone, I ripped the needle from my hand and carefully removed all the other instruments that were attached to me. When I was completely free of restriction, I abruptly stood from my bed. _There is no way I am ending up on the tail end of a human centipede._ I was getting my ass out of this place now.

After a good ten minutes of trying to get the muscles in my legs to work again, I frantically searched the small closet in my room. All that could be found was a purse and a torn pink dress. I snatched the purse up before peeking my head out the door. The halls seemed pretty empty, and the nurses looked busy at their station. I took this as my opportunity to make a getaway.

Being as stealthy as possible, which in my case meant leaning against the wall while trying to keep my gown closed, I was ecstatic to locate the linens closet. Finding it open, I bustled inside and searched the shelves. _Bingo._ I found some scrubs. With a quick change, I felt more confident to walk out the front door... that was until I looked at my feet. Frowning, I wiggled my toes in the hospital socks that doubled as slippers. Shrugging, I let out a long breath. _Beggars can't be choosers._

Making my way via elevator, I was able to get to the first floor and walk right out undetected.

The cool night air hit me and I could feel myself relaxing as the anxiousness left me in waves. _Goodbye hospital._ My moment of peace became short lived as I ended the distance of the parking lot. I gulped at the sight before me. There, staring right back at me... was a sign that said 'Mystic Falls Hospital'.

 _Okay Heth, don't panic... do - not - panic. Maybe there really is a small town somewhere in the U.S. named Mystic Falls. Just get to a phone, call your REAL dad, and he will he come get you._

Determined and focused, I picked up my pace and headed for the road. I'm not sure how many houses I passed before making it to the town square, it seemed that I cut through a neighborhood to get here. As I walked, I took in the sights of different businesses. I saw a post office, a coffee house, and even a barber shop with a spinning striped pole. Hastening a bit, I was perplexed to see a boarded up florist that looked to have had some smoke damage. _I wonder what could have happened here. Such a shame, all those plants._

A payphone sign in the distance caught my eye and I immediately jogged towards it. _I can't believe these things still exist, it must be ancient._ Ignoring my amazement at finding an actual phone booth, I opened my purse and sifted through it for some change. A smile crept onto my lips in excitement when I found some quarters tucked away in the side pocket. Quickly, I fed the machine and dialed my father.

 **The number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Please check the number and dial again.**

"What... that's impossible." My father is a lawyer. The only time that man removes the cell phone from his body is when he showers. Frustrated, I hit what I am now am calling 'the clicker' a few times before slamming the receiver back down on it. Leaning against the glass door, I think of my next option... the house phone. Since I took all the change from the pocket in the purse, I pull out the pink leather wallet. Upon opening it, the license inside piques my curiosity. I yanked it from it plastic case and stared at it in disbelief.

In my hand, was a Virginia driver's license with a picture of my own smiling face gazing back at me. **Bradbury, Heather Jolene, 1177 Floyd Street, Mystic Falls, VA 20185.**

In a daze, I must have forgotten my plan to call home because I now found myself sitting on a bench across the street. I glanced at the license one last time before forcefully shoving it back into the purse. Now, it's just me and a statue of a civil war veteran alone in the park.

So many questions ran through my head at once. _Am I going crazy? Am I stuck in some alternate reality? Is this even a real town or is it really like the show. Are there characters here as well? Am I an extra? Will Damon try to eat me?_

I closed my eyes as my mind continued to run a muck. _And why Mystic Falls... why not Hogwarts, or Forks, or even Alexandria... no scratch that, I would totally suck at killing walkers._

"Excuse me, Miss?"

"My name's Heather." I sighed before opening my eyes and being shocked for the umpteenth time tonight. Standing in front of me... was the one and only, Stefan Salvatore. _Wow... just wow._

"Are you alright?" he asked me as he stood right in my line of vision, "You look a little ah... freaked out."

Shaking my head, I tried to smooth my features from giving off a creepy vibe. "Um, yeah. Sorry, just having one hell of a night." Giving a nervous chuckle, I leaned back into the bench. As he tilted his head in... what I could only imagine was concern for the crazy lady on the bench, I took in his appearance. "Believe it or not, you are the first familiar face I have seen here." I couldn't help but smile at him. "You really are a dreamboat like the one on TV." _I probably should not have said that out loud._

Surprisingly, he look amused. "Did you just call me a dreamboat, I was unaware people still used that word."

"An elite few, yes." I nodded. "We have our own club and once a month we have a cake raffle. We still use words like dullsville and wig out too."

"Cowabunga?" he questioned with a smirk as he sat down next to me.

I laughed and was amazed he hadn't run off yet. "So, you're a member?"

"Hm," he hummed out. "I must have misplaced my card." He smiled at me as he made himself comfortable. "So... Heather, what may I ask are you doing alone in the park at this time of night? You seemed panicked."

"The truth is..." I crossed my legs and turned towards him. "My world pretty much just crashed down around me tonight." I paused, thinking I should probably go light on the details. "I woke up from a coma today. I was told I have amnesia and that my brain is making up for it with false memories."

"That's... pretty heavy."

I giggled again at his use of some more behind-the-times lingo. "It is." I shrugged my shoulders. "Now, I am in this place where I don't recall knowing anyone or anything about myself before you pulled me out of the lake." Stefan's face reflected one of shock and I could tell he was uncomfortable. "Don't worry," I assured him, "I won't say a word about that night. In truth, I don't even know how I got there."

I could hear him mumbling to himself and was able to catch 'You weren't meant to remember that'. Seeing me watching him, he changed his expression quickly. "Well, I should introduce myself then. I'm Stefan Salvatore," he addressed me and held out his hand.

"And apparently, I'm Heather Bradbury. It's nice to meet you and thank you for saving me Stefan." Even if he was some TV character, I did owe him for not letting me drown. He looked like he didn't know how to respond to that. I took his hand in mine to reciprocate the handshake.

"You're welcome," he replied with a kind smile and firmly gripped my hand, "Just so you know, everything will be fine."

Like a jolt, a sudden memory took over my mind.

 _I found myself seated in a chair and my full skirted dress overflowed into my occupied space. A focused Stefan knelt in front of me. He was layered in trousers, suspenders, and a white tailored shirt. I flinched as he prodded the skin below my elbow._

 _"Everything will be fine."_

 _I shook my head as I inspected the long cut on my arm and shredded remains of my sleeve. "It will not, my mother is going to be very cross with me."_

 _"Daphne." Stefan sighed. "The important thing is that you were not injured more severely. What were you thinking?" he questioned as he cleaned the remaining blood from my wound._

 _A smirk became prominent in my features. "I was thinking that it is not fair that you boys get to have all the fun."_

 _Stefan wrapped the bandage around my injury as he pursed his lips. "You should know better than to let Damon provoke you._ _It will always end poorly."_

 _When he finished, I placed both of my arms around his neck. "Perhaps, next time, I shall let you be my voice of reason."_

 _"Please do," he said as a warm smile graced his handsome face._

When the memory cleared I realized I was entranced in the forest green eyes of the man across from me. I released my hand from his and jumped back quickly. His eyes enlarged in surprise. _What the heck was that? That was not my memory. Maybe it's vamp thing I missed on an episode._

"I should really get back to the hospital before they treat me like an escaped convict." I stood and grabbed my purse. "Thank you for sitting with me." I turned to leave but stopped when I heard his voice.

"Wait, let me give you a lift back. You shouldn't be walking." He looked down. "Especially in those." He pointed at my sock slippers with a side grin.

I knew I should probably decline, I mean... he is a vampire and I'm already a little to close for comfort with this character. Also, that weird little flashback had me on edge, but... I really didn't want to walk back without shoes. _Ah, screw it._ "Okay... thanks, a ride would be great."

Following his lead, we made the trek to his car in silence. When I noticed the vehicle he was heading towards, I paused. "Whoa." He watched me confused as I continued. "This is an amazing car." I didn't know shit about cars, but I could tell that this was an older model Porsche and it sure was a sweet ride.

Laughing, he opened the door for me. "I'm glad you approve. I am fond of it." Once both of us were settled and on our way to the hospital, I would catch Stefan stealing curious glances at me. "If I may ask," he began, "you mentioned false memories, what did you mean by that?"

"Well..." I crossed my hands on my lap. "Before the lake incident, I recall my whole life and it was not this one. In fact, the last memory I have was being in the tub and planning what college courses I had to take." So, it was a half truth, but a truth nonetheless.

"What was your major?"

"Botany."

I couldn't help the pride that welled up in me when he looked impressed. "You want to be a botanist, you don't hear about that being a career choice everyday. Why the interest?"

"I've been studying plants most of my life. What can I say?" My shoulders shrugged. "I'm a nature girl." I shot him a smile that was returned.

"In these memories, do you have a favorite flower?"

For a moment, I thought about lying and saying something stupid like roses, but I was already on an honesty kick so I might as well continue. "I like oleander. It's beautiful, fragrant, and deadly."

"Deadly?"

"Yes, it's highly poisonous to the nervous, digestive, and cardiovascular systems... but I think it gets a bad wrap for that."

Stefan shook his head before his lips quirked into a smile. "You have an interesting way of seeing things."

"Well, I hope my unusual way of thinking will help me out in this situation. Maybe, I have family outside this town that can help me get out of Dodge." I watched Stefan's brows furrow as we pulled into the hospital parking lot. Not giving him a chance to respond, I quickly thanked him for the ride and exited the car.

"Heather," he called out, making me stop in my tracks and turn towards him. His face looked serious and dare I say, thoughtful. "I hope you stick around, I really mean that."

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I watched as his car drove away. The show ran through my head and I recalled all that Stefan Salvatore had to endure. _The poor guy, he has no idea what he is in for._ Me on the other hand, I planned on staying out of the mess that I knew was blowing this way.

* * *

So Heather meets Stefan... wonder what that weird memory was and who the heck is Daphne? Review :D

A/N: Little Fun Fact: Where I live, the hospitals play 10 seconds of Brahms' Lullaby every time a baby is born.


	3. Finding Family

A/N: Hi all and thanks so much for the favs/follows. Most of all, thank you for the awesome reviews. I love to see your thoughts, questions, and theories. It let's me know your getting into the story. To answer a biggie. Heather is not a doppelganger. I think there is enough of that with Elena, but it doesn't mean her history is any less heavy. Heather has her own storyline that is mixed in with the shows timeline and I am hoping to throw in some curve balls. Always feel free to share your thoughts. :D

Musical Inspiration:

Moments - by Tove Lo

Let go - by Frou Frou

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 3

Finding Family

~[^^^]~

It's amazing how quickly humans can adapt to something thrown at them when the need arises. That's what I found myself doing, accepting the circumstances in which I had now found myself. Of course, the pills that the shrink forced me to take at the hospital may have helped a teeny bit.

"Wow, Nudad... nice place. I'm digging the yellow." _Nudad rhymes with doodad._ A giggle slipped through my lips before I reeled myself in.

Okay, so maybe the pills to relax me are having more of an effect that I originally thought. Robert scowled at the ground while he opened the iron gate that surrounded my new home. His face held that same grimace every time I used his new title. _Sorry buddy, but there is no way I am calling you Daddy._

The old Victorian house where I was now going to reside caused me to stop in admiration. The color was the palest yellow like the petals of a sun bleached daffodil. It contrasted against the black shuttered windows that were edged with flower boxes. The wraparound porch and balcony were both outlined with a white wooden spoked railing. It was a postcard historian home that even had a swing in the front.

"Heather," Robert spoke out as he held the front door open, "you can come in, you do live here."

"Right," I mumbled out as I made myself move forward up the steps. Once inside, I found the interior just as charming as the outside had been. With it's rich tones, patterned wallpaper, and comfortable looking furniture, it gave a feeling of warmth. It was unlike my prior home that mirrored a museum.

With the historical value of this place, I knew it had to cost a pretty penny. Obviously, Robert could afford it with his career choice. After Stefan had dropped me back at the hospital, three nights ago, Robert nearly flipped his lid at my escape. I could tell he held back his anger though due to my 'condition'. After he calmed, he spent the rest of my days there pumping me full of information on my so called life as a Bradbury. I learned that he owned the Mystic Grill and that I as his daughter, also happened to work there. _Convenient, right?_ All I wanted to do was avoid the fictional people in this town and instead, I am dropped right in the middle of hot spot central.

Focusing back on my new environment, I looked around and ignored Robert's hopeful glances. The doctor had informed him that if I was around familiar things, my memories may start to come back. Poor guy, he has no idea that his daughter doesn't exist.

Photos on the mantle caught my eye and I hurried towards them. An eeriness settled over me as I glanced at pictures of myself at different ages that I knew I never posed for.

"That was your 6th grade dance recital." Robert's voice came from behind me. He pointed to the picture of my younger self dressed in a bright blue sequenced leotard. "You took ballet for a few years before you got bored of it." He chuckled. "After that, you moved onto modeling because you said it was good practice for a career." He gestured to a black and white framed portrait of me. "Those head shots sure did put a dent in my wallet." He laughed again and finished with a wistful smile.

My body cringed with this new revelation. _Modeling and ballet... just... no._ That was not me at all. I shook my head as I pushed out the images of me posing for pictures while 'I'm too sexy' played in the background.

Noticing there were only photos of Robert and myself, I asked the obvious question. "Do I have a mother?"

Roberts whole body instantly sagged and a pained look overtook his features. "Your mother died two years ago." His voice took on a slight tremble as he spoke. "She ran a flower shop in town. During one particularly hot day in the summer, the AC unit in the building went on the fritz. She was using fans to cool the shop down so that nothing would wilt." Robert paused and cleared his throat. "The fire marshal said it was one of the old fans that started the electrical fire."

"I'm sorry." I didn't know what else to say. The recollection of the boarded up building I had seen came to the forefront of my mind.

"Thanks, Sweetie." He gave me a small smile. "I know I shouldn't have taken her photos down, but it was just to hard for the both of us."

Deciding not to breech this topic again, I tried to think of something else to discuss. My effort was halted as the doorbell rang. While Robert collected himself and went to see who arrived, I made myself comfortable on the couch. Clutching the jewelry around my neck, I rubbed my thumb over the stones. My grandmother's necklace seemed to be the only thing from my real life that traveled to this dimension with me, for that I was grateful. Feeling my eyes droop, I could tell whatever meds they had given me were starting to take their toll.

"Heather," Robert called as he walked back into the room, "look who's here."

Peering my head around my fake father's form, I was able to see Mystic Fall's own Elena Gilbert teetering in the room's entrance. After meeting Stefan, she was pretty much what I expected. A beautiful brunette with a general sweetness about her.

"I'll let you girls talk." Robert grinned at each of us before leaving the room.

Elena looked nervous and unsure on how to approach me. After a short pause, she smiled and sat on the other end of the couch.

"I'm happy you're finally home," she said as she twiddled her fingers in her lap. "I have been checking in with your dad and he's been keeping me up-to-date on your condition. Oh..." She jerked her head to the side. "I'm so sorry," she said with a slight grimace before replacing her smile, "I forgot that you have no idea who I am. My name's Elena, we were really close friends... best friends, actually."

I could tell she was trying to put on a happy front but her eyes spoke volumes of sadness. It was then that I remembered why. _Oh hell, these characters and their back stories are going to max out my emotions._ Sighing, I did the only polite thing I could think of. "It's nice to meet you Elena and I want to give you my condolences. I was informed of what happened and I just want you to know, I'm sorry for your loss."

She looked surprised by my comment and her voice took on a hushed tone. "How can you even say that?" She took a deep breath and her eyes became watery. "It's my fault this happened to you."

I shook my head. "Don't even think that."

"No," she adamantly disagreed, "just listen, that night we were all at a party and I got into a fight with my boyfriend. I didn't want to be alone so I asked you to come home with me. You were in the car that night because I couldn't get over a stupid argument. It's completely my fault." She sniffled and tears escaped her eyes. "Almost drowning, your coma, your memory loss... that's all on me."

 _Oh shit, she's crying. What do I do?_ I put my hand on her back and rubbed it awkwardly trying to calm her down."Ya know... you have nothing to feel guilty about. Things happen all the time and people try to figure out what they could have done differently to avoid it. But that's just it, we can't undo anything. Bad things are going to appear from time to time and it's beyond our control. None of what happened is your fault."

To my surprise, she pulled me into a hug and continued to sob out how sorry she was. I cringed but hugged her back anyway and let her continue to vent her pain. When she finished, she leaned back embarrassed and wiped the tears from under her eyes. She gave me a reluctant grin and stood up. "I should get going. I'm sorry for crying on you... I just... I just needed you to know."

"Don't worry about it." I waved her off. "Everyone needs a good cry sometimes and as far as everything else, even though your apology is not needed, all is forgiven."

Elena nodded gratefully before rubbing her palms on her jean shorts. "Heather, I have faith you'll get your memories back." With a small smile, the sad brunette left the house.

Blowing out a long breath and thanking the universe that was over with, I pushed myself up from my seat. I decided it was time to find out where I sleep in this place. Leaving the living room, I gripped the banister and paced my way up the steps. The first door in front of me was obviously the bathroom so I turned to my left and followed the hallway. By the time I reached the third door, I decided it must be mine. The plaque hanging off of it, spelling out 'Heather' in pink sparkling letters, made it hard to think otherwise.

When I opened the door, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened. At this moment, I knew that if there really was a hell, it was is no longer fire and brimstone. It's this room and it's Pepto-Bismol painted walls. Shaking my head and taking a deep breath, I entered the pink monstrosity. I looked around with a frown etched on my lips. _This sucks so bad._

Knowing there was nothing I could do about it tonight, I shuffled over to the dresser and scanned through some of the photos that were stuck in the edges of the mirror. I pulled off one of myself with Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie. For the first time, I felt like an impostor. These girls thought I was their friend. They had no idea that the only reason I knew anything about their life was because I watched their turmoils play out on my television.

Sighing, I slid off my flats and unbuttoned my capris'. Before I could finish shimmying out of them, I noticed an ipod sitting in it's dock. I pushed the play button and waited for the first song to ring out. Hearing the bits of bass play though the melody, I was pleasantly surprised. At least she had good taste in music.

Kicking off my pants, I laughed at my 'Hello Kitty' panties in the mirror. _Robert must have been so uncomfortable packing this_. Picking up my shoes, I danced over to my closet and sang along the way. "I, I'm not the prettiest you've ever seen... but I have my moments, I have my moments."

Continuing to hum along with the rest of the song, I opened the door and found myself taking a step back. _Really?_ 90% of the clothes hanging in there were pink. "Who was this girl? Molly Ringwald?"

I could feel myself rolling my eyes and becoming frustrated once again. Throwing the flats in, I quickly slammed the door. _Looks like I am going shopping before school starts._ As I was about to belt out another verse to the song, a loud squawk made me jump. I turned to see a black crow sitting on my window sill gawking at me.

"Oh, hell no." I marched over towards the evil little creature. "Nope. Wrong house birdie. Go stalk Elena. This is a no crow zone. Shoo." I flung my hand out in a skedaddle motion and watched as it hopped off before flying away. Closing my window and locking it, I looked down to realize I was still in my underwear. _Freaking Damon._

"Anyone else wanna show up tonight? Klaus perhaps?" I spit out sarcastically as I made my way to the elegant bed. Despite my bedspread's lace trim, it did look comfortable. As I climbed in, I chucked some of the pillows to the side of the room and nuzzled my head into the fluffiest one. Before leaning over to turn off the lamp, I noticed the small bedside drawer. Choosing to be nosy, I opened it to find some more photo's. Shuffling through the first few... that happened to be of me at a young age, I stopped when I came to another familiar face.

I sat up abruptly to focus more intensely on the picture in my hand. It looked like it was taken at some type of picnic. There stood Robert, me, and then... my mother. My actual mother, not some fictitious person from Vampire Diaries, but from home. The mother I have been missing all this time. I knew it didn't make sense for me to be here, but for her to be here as well was a whole different mystery. I felt my stomach sink. Robert said she died.

I felt my eyes attempting to mist over, but I refused to cry. Nothing had been what it seemed. The minutes ticked on while I studied the newest aged version of her. All the features that had been etched into my mind for so long took on a new light. I wanted... no, I needed her back. I didn't give up on her for the last 6 years and I refuse to do so now. Tracing her face with my finger, I resolved that tomorrow I find out what happened to her.

With that thought, I put the pictures away and turned my light off for the night.

~[^^^]~

Waking up to Frou Frou invading my dreams, I realized that I must have forgotten to turn off the music last night. I opened my eyes to find that my walls were an even more disgusting shade in the sunlight. Groaning, I stretched and launched myself from the bed. A new determination drove me today. It was my persistence to find answers.

After a normal morning routine of showering and slight primping, I was able to find something to wear in my closet that did not consist that horrid color. I glided downstairs to the kitchen and was greeted by Robert who sat at the table with his morning paper. Searching the cabinets, I spotted tea bags and started on boiling some water.

"Any plans today, Sweetheart?" Robert asked in between sips of coffee.

"Actually... I wanted to talk to you about that." I had no intention of bringing up my mother with him. After his reaction last night, I thought it's best to question him as a last resort. I would look elsewhere for my answers first. "I was wondering if I have a car."

Robert stiffened and looked up from his paper. "You do, but after what happened, do you really think it's such a good idea to be getting behind the wheel?"

"I don't even remember the accident and I can't go through life never driving. It's best I get back on the horse so to speak. Besides, I really want to check out the local library and do some clothes shopping before school on Monday."

With a reluctant nod, Robert relented. "Fine. Your car keys are on the hook." Standing from his seat, he reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Sliding his credit card out, he handed it to me. "Here... get anything you need for school and put some gas in your tank."

"But, don't I have my own money?" I asked, "You said I have been working at the grill this past year. Didn't I save any of it?"

"Yes, you have a checking and savings account which I oversee. However, you are my daughter and I am responsible for providing your necessities. So, for now, use my credit card and leave the saving's account for college."

 _Huh, that was actually, really... sweet._ I took the card and gave him a wide smile. "Thanks, Nudad. You're not so bad at this parent thing."

Rolling his eyes, he gave me a hint of a smile before putting his cup in the sink and grabbing his own set of keys. "Take your time driving, wear your seat belt, and go to the town square. I showed you where The Grill was last night on our way home, the library is just down the street from there. Also..." He gave me a pointed look. "Don't forget you are starting your shift tonight, so don't be late."

Letting out an unladylike grunt, I sipped my now finished tea while watching him leave. _Yes, how could I forget my first night of waiting tables at the infamous Mystic Grill. Fun, fun._ I rolled my eyes and continued to make myself a quick breakfast.

...

As I entered the library, which I was able to find after only one illegal u-turn, I glanced back at my car. It wasn't as nice as my Volvo, but the white Jeep I now found in my possession was a fun vehicle and at least it was a new model. Focusing back on my task, I looked around the large room. There wasn't a lot to it, but in a small town, I expected as much. Finding the main desk, I bustled over and planted myself in front of a white haired woman who was bending over some files.

I cleared my throat to get her attention. "Excuse me."

When she stood up with her curved posture. I cocked my head to the side and felt my brows raise. The stereotypical crazy cat lady fluttered in my mind. I could picture this librarian spending her weekends crocheting little outfits for all her furry friends. Her wiry hair was pinned back showing the full wrinkles that creased with her overly gummy smile. I coughed to fight back the laugh that begged for release. It was very clear she had a mix up with her eyeliner and her brow pencil. After a small pause, she spoke with an uneven happy tone. "Hello dear, can I help you with something."

"Um..." _Don't focus on the upper half of her face_. I looked down. "I was wondering if you could help me find your newspaper archives."

"Yes, let me see." I followed behind as she made her slow pace across the room. She opened a large drawer of a wooden filing cabinet to reveal boxes of slides. "Here we are. You can sort through the time frame you need and take films over to the microfiche reader machine, there." The librarian pointed to a yellowing dusty machine.

I gaped at it before smoothing my features in her direction. "Aren't they logged in a computer?" I knew from past school projects that if you didn't feel like paying for the subscription online, you went to the library database. _How behind the times is this town?_

The aged woman gave me a slight frown. "No dear, we still use this system. This way is much more simpler than that silly internet."

 _Simple my foot._ I plastered a false smile on my face and conceded. "Thank you for your help."

My words seemed to bring her mood up again. "Let me know if you need anything else." She smiled again before gazing at me. "Such pretty hair you have. I used to have hair like that." She sighed.

Before she could reach out and pet me, I took a small step back. "Well, thanks again. I better get started on these slides." With a hesitant nod she left me to sift through the disorganized boxes.

...

Hours later, I was still seated in front of the outdated machine going over each article from two years ago. I concentrated on the summer months from the little information Robert had given me. The word 'fire' caught my attention and I sat up straighter. Zooming in, I continued to read.

 **Fatal Fire Erupts In Local Flower Shop**

 **By Candice Maxwell**

 **Courier Staff**

 **A fire broke out in the business of 'Incandescent Flowers' located in center square on Tuesday night after closing it's doors. Firefighters and EMT's rushed to the local shop after receiving a 911 call from a merchant who saw smoke lingering from the building. An unidentified female was pronounced dead at the scene and several people were treated for toxic smoke inhalation. As a precaution, law enforcement evacuated residents and businesses within a mile radius.**

 **Fire Chief Mitchell was quoted as saying "We believe the fire cause was electrical. A faulty plug in an already overused outlet. Our main concern at the moment is getting people away from the noxious fumes that came from the plants catching fire. Whatever it is, it's making people sick." Neighboring business owners were able to return to their shop the following day.**

 _Noxious fumes?_ No normal plants in a flower shop would give off smoke that potent. My mother knew her plants, there is no way she would put something in a bouquet that was extremely poisonous. She wouldn't even let me get close to certain plants growing up for fear of me getting sick. I planned to see if there was any remnant of plants left in the greenhouse she used.

Checking the date on the slide, I pulled up the obituaries for the days following the event. Finding it quickly, I smiled at the picture used. My mother was posed in front of a tree with her face beaming. I wished that I could see the red in her hair that was now masked in shades of grey due to the black and white slide. Feeling my eyes beginning to water again, I took a long calming breath and scrolled to the obituary.

 **Donna Marie Sparks Bradbury**

 **Donna Bradbury, 36, of 1177 Floyd Street, passed away on Tuesday, August 28, 2007.**

 **Born March 12, 1971, in Mystic Falls, she was daughter to the late Wilhelmina and Charles Sparks. She is survived by her husband Robert Bradbury and her daughter Heather Bradbury.**

 **Mrs. Bradbury owned multiple businesses along side of her husband and enjoyed gardening in her free time. She was an active PTO member and was devoted in many charitable associations. As a one of the last Sparks Founding Family members, Mrs. Bradbury held a place on the Mystic Falls Founder's Council.**

The rest of the obituary just went into the funeral notice and flower arrangements. I continued to sit there staring at her name in bold print. Everything was the same, well except for the married add on. Actually, my family name even to the generation of my grandparents had not been changed. My grandparents Minnie and Charlie were somehow linked to this world as well. I found myself having more questions than answers.

Another thing that didn't skip my notice was the fact somehow my family was listed as a Founding Family. How we got pulled into that was another riddle I had to solve. I know for a fact that there were no Sparks Founding Family when I watched the show. This was all to much and I found myself confounded.

Knowing I needed to jot this information down, I searched the desk frantically for the pencil I had been doodling with. I stopped the hunt when a appealing voice sounded behind me.

"You're still here."

I turned in my seat to see Stefan smiling at me dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. _Gosh, he's pretty._ I mentally shook my head. _Focus Heather._ "Um yeah, I decided to stick around and weather the storm." To say I was surprised to see him here would be an understatement. I was sure he had a massive library of his own at the boarding house.

"Mind if I sit?" With my gesture to the chair at my side, he sat and leaned into the desk. I watched as his gaze settled on the old screen in front of me. "Relative?" he inquired.

"My mother."

"Oh... I'm sorry." He gave me a genuine sympathetic look before studying the photo on the obituary. "You look like her," he said and his brows furrowed for just a moment. Stefan almost seemed surprised by this fact.

I looked at the screen again with a wistful smile. "Thanks."

Bringing his attention back to me, he angled his chair in my direction. "Any luck with the memories?"

"Nope," I said popping my 'p'. "My past still consists of my own little world. I remember my mom and my grandparents though. I'm starting to think my family might be the key."

"Sparks." He pointed at the screen. "They were a Founding Family."

I nodded. "Yeah, I just found out that I am now part of the town elite. So... what's the deal? Do we all get matching tattoos?"

"Nothing that extreme, you are just required to attend a multitude of dull social functions and snub the rest of the town folk," he replied with a smirk.

I let out a groan that caused him to chuckle. "Well, at least knowing this will make tracking my ancestors easier."

"I could help you." He smiled. "I tend to be a history nerd."

I was about to take him up on his offer when it suddenly hit me. _What am I doing? I can't get swept up with these characters no matter how sweet they may be. Did you forget he's a vampire with a psycho vampire brother and is going to be dating Elena? Distance Heather!_

"Thanks for the offer, but I am trying to work out everything on own." Seeing that he was visibly disappointed with my reply, I back peddled. "But... I will let you know when I get stuck." _What the hell? Puppy dog eyes never worked on me before. Why am I giving in?_ My added reply made his features soften and his smile brightened. _Right, that's why you did it._ With a sigh, I once again began searching the desk. "Now, if I could only find my pencil to write some notes, I would be in good shape."

Stefan put his hand on my shoulder and I arched my neck with a turn. Coming face to face, I watched as his eyes took on a thoughtful stare. His lips had the slightest quirk and I found myself fascinated. It was one thing to see someone on TV, but to have him so close now... I couldn't help but take in every line, dimple, and detail of his face. Watching him inch forward, I felt my body freeze with anticipation and the short breaths I now found myself taking were filled with the energizing scent of his cologne. _He's not real, remember that._ Following his hand reaching for my head, I felt my breath hitch. Suddenly, I became perplexed at the swift presence of my hair falling onto my shoulders. Disappointed as he moved away, I could now see he was twirling my pencil between his fingers. Realization dawned on me. _I'm an idiot._

I could tell he found the look on my face entertaining as he let out a low laugh. While I huffed and tried to regain my sensibility, he inspected all the tiny grooves of the pencil in his hand. Holding it out in front of me, he arched an eyebrow in my direction. "Were you hungry?"

I shrugged. "Yup... I'm a biter." As soon as the words left my lips I winced. Mental-face-palm. "Pencil biter," I quickly sped out. "It's a bad habit I picked up in school while I studied."

After another laugh, he placed the battered pencil in my hand. His face cooled suddenly and I could see him staring over my shoulder. "I believe someone is trying to get your attention." With a slight turn in the direction he gestured, I could see the librarian tapping her watch. A bewildered expression overtook Stefan. "Does that woman have green eyebrows?"

"Yes, yes she does. Just smile and wave." The both of us plastered a fake smile on our mouths and stoically waved at the loony lady. Knowing I had to take these facts down before the library closed, I tried to be subtle with Stefan. "Well, thank you for rescuing my pencil but I really should write this stuff down before they close their doors for the day. I am already cutting it close with getting to The Grill on time."

"Then I will let you get to that." He smiled and stood. "Remember my offer, I will help you in any way I can." With a look I didn't understand, he dipped his head. "I'll see you at school on Monday."

I nodded and gave him a smirk. "Thanks Dreamboat."

He grinned and shook his head. "Goodbye..." He paused briefly. "Heather."

* * *

Poor Heather is losing her cool with Stefan and having a hard time sticking to the rules. Also, Heather's mom was here in Vampire Diary world. What could that possibly mean? More coming so... Fav/Follow/Review!


	4. Fuming

A/N: Hey y'all sorry for the update gap but I had to work on some of my other stories before I got follower hate mail. I'm just kidding, I haven't gotten hate mail... yet. So, they wanted to know if Godric dies, if Brenda wakes in General Hospital, and what happens with the Volturi. (There is my shameless plug for my other stories :D)

Anyway, back to Heather. I have soooo much planned for this story and onward. I will be finishing the whole season, it will just take some time... so enjoy the ride. Also, I'm a slow burn kinda girl so please keep that in mind for the love relationship regarding the characters. :D

Musical Inspiration:

Cool Kids - by Echosmith

(Playlist link updated in profile)

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 4

Fuming

~[^^^]~

Mystic Falls High... the epitome of television high school perfection stood before me in all it's teen wholesome goodness. It was as if I was just waiting for the students to begin snapping their fingers and break into a choreographed dance routine.

Sighing, I shifted my new backpack to a different angle and continued up the walkway to my new school. Stares and whispers began to be directed my way. I ignored them and reminded myself they were just 'acting extras' anyway. _I wonder how much that job pays on the show. And what do you put on your resume... high school student #34 for angsty vampire drama series?_

Once inside, I focused on the door numbers and searched for the one that was meant to be my homeroom. Catching the blue eyes of Matt Donovan, I smiled before I glanced to the friend by his side and my face morphed into a grimace. Someone did not look happy to see me. Instantly, memories of my first night working at The Grill, over the weekend, took hold.

...

Getting into the swing of waitressing wasn't going to bad. Okay, so I was actually only refilling drinks but Robert wanted me to ease into things slowly and shadow Matt for the night. Surprisingly, the local blond heartthrob was very patient with me. I liked Matt instantly. He took the time to introduce himself and tell me that we had been friends since elementary school. He was a little bummed though that I didn't get to meet his sister who happened to call out 'sick' that night. I however, was not. I was in no rush to greet Vicki Donovan... I always loathed that character.

After the dinner rush, things began to slow down. I decided to linger by the bar and study the menu better. I figure I might as well start memorizing these dishes now since I am going to be stuck here serving them most nights. Having just gotten down the list of appetizers, my ears perked when I heard voices raised. As I looked over my shoulder, I could see Matt arguing with a dark haired guy. I knew this person was one of the important ones to the storyline... Jeremy or Tyler. To be honest, I didn't pay much attention to them on the show and could never tell them apart. Not really caring, I turned back and put my concentration onto the menu's entrees.

"Tyler, don't do it, man," Matt's voice broke through.

 _Well, that solves the identity mystery._ Before I had the chance to look up again, I was suddenly turned in someone's arms. I was shocked to see the one I just learned was Tyler holding me. Shock turned to horror when his lips rammed onto mine. Panic seized through me and my eyes widened in fear. Realizing this guy was trying to shove his tongue into my mouth, I forcefully pushed him away. I could hear glass breaking in the distance but ignored it as I launched the edge of my palm into his nose. Watching him stumble backwards, the reality of what I had just done hit me full force.

 _Oh wow, that actually worked._ All those stupid self defense classes my father made me take years ago echoed through my head. _Use the palm, push the nose to the side forcefully, run._ For a brief moment I felt horrible for my reaction, but it became overshadowed swiftly as anger set in. "What the hell?"

"Damn it, Heather!" Tyler said holding his now bleeding nose.

"You kissed me!"

"I think you broke my nose."

I was exasperated by that fact that even through his muffled voice he still sounded pissed at me. The nerve of this guy. "Because you kissed me. Why would you do that?"

"Because you're my girlfriend!" he yelled.

"What?... Nooooo." _This-is-not-happening. Shit, why didn't I look more thoroughly through those pictures in my room._ "But... I don't even know you." Okay, so I knew of him, but he doesn't know that, yet this is how he chooses to reintroduce himself to his girlfriend. _What an asshat._

"Heather, we have been together for over a year."

 _Ugh! I am really beginning to wonder about old Heather's choices._ Sighing, I reached over the bar, grabbed a dish towel, and handed it to him as a peace offering. "Look..." _Jeremy, no wait, he's not Jeremy._

"Tyler," he finished for me and held the towel to his face.

"Tyler..." I pronounced it slowly hoping it would stick this time. "I don't recall anything about my life before I woke up and to be honest, I was team Edward. You and me, I'm sure we had a great run but our time together is over. Move on to better things, meet some new people, find a new girl." I was rambling and knew it. _Oh! Who was he with before, think Heather. That's it._ "Ya know, Matt said he had a sister. How about Vicki? I bet you two would get along swimmingly."

Tyler just stood there staring at me with his mouth open until his eyes began to narrow. Without a word, he turned and stormed off.

"Um, alight then. Good luck and happy trails," I called after him before placing my head into my hands. _Happy trails? What the hell is wrong with me?_ Shaking my head off of the situation, I noticed the patrons of the grill gawking in my direction. "Okay, people, shows over... back to your dinner." With my announcement, I walked behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of water. _I hope Matt isn't upset I pimped out his sister._

...

Back in real time, I stared at Tyler's black and blue face while giving him a sympathetic glance. All I received in return was a daggered gaze so I hurried off to my homeroom quest. After bumbling through the halls for another 10 minutes, I found my destination.

I noticed the maps and civil war memorabilia on the walls immediately. Darting my eyes to the teachers desk, I let out a groan. Of course I would get Tanner as a homeroom teacher as well. Straightening my shoulders, I trudged my way to the front of his desk and waited for him to look up.

"Ah... Miss Bradbury. I assume you want your locker information and class schedule." He fingered through a list of packets and handed mine over. "Let's hope that memory loss of yours will give you a clean slate to instill some actual study plans this year."

It took everything in my power not to roll my eyes. With a fake smile, I left towards the lockers and established it was easy enough to open. After storing some of my items, I found myself back in the classroom sitting down.

Now that I had a chance to check out my schedule, I looked it over with care. It was your standard list of high school classes. My science class was at an average level so I made a mental note to plot my way into getting on the advanced roster. Studying the paper some more, I was pleased to see I would be taking home economics. Cooking had become a bit of a hobby since I had spent many weekends alone making my own dinner. _That reminds me, I need to redownload the Allrecipes app._ As I was looking through my purse for a phone, the one I now realized I left at home, a female voice caught my attention.

"What locker number did you get?"

Raising my head and coming face to face with the girl in the desk next to me, I smiled at the local pretty witch who was a part of my fictitious inner circle. Bonnie Bennett returned a friendly smile and swept her long dark hair behind her ear. I glanced down and fumbled through my papers. "Um... 215."

"Oh good, it's right next to mine." Her smile widened as she held out her hand. "I'm Bonnie, we were great friends before..."

I didn't let her finish as I returned the handshake. "Before my brain was scrambled." She looked embarrassed at my response, but I quickly gave a chuckle to let her no I wasn't offended. "It's fine, don't worry about it. I'm adjusting."

Bonnie nodded sympathetically. "Well, let me know if you need help with anything, and I mean anything. I know you don't remember, but we have known each other since we were tots and we were always there for each other. That doesn't change for me."

"Thanks." I grinned. The one thing I couldn't figure out is how 'Story Heather' fit into the group equation. I knew from watching the show that Caroline was school princess, Elena was America's sweetheart, and Bonnie was the backbone of support. So what does that make me? It seemed out of everyone, Bonnie would be the best person to help me figure that out. I may be going against the minimal contact rule on this one, but I'm really not up for more surprises. Also, truth be told, I always loved her character. Being Wiccan myself, I was fascinated by her use of magic. Sure I did spells, but in the real world where magic doesn't exist, I rely on the laws of attraction for my spells to be a success. Making up my mind, I leaned in closer to her. "Can you tell me about how I used to be?"

"Yeah." She gave the sweetest smile. "I can do that."

And so began the tale of Heather's life as Bonnie started with 'In kindergarten, you stole my glue...'

~[^^^]~

By the time lunch rolled around, I was thrilled to find that the cafeteria was easy enough to locate. After grabbing a tray and shuffling through the line of teenagers, I was able to snatch a cheeseburger and fries that surprisingly looked edible. Now, it was time to find a table and avoid the awkwardness of not knowing anyone. I found a free one by the window and sat down placing my tray in front of me.

Wanting to seem busy, I opened my notebook. Earlier in history, I had tried to drown out Tanner's voice so I started to work on what I recalled of my family tree. I also noticed that during that period Stefan's desk was only a few across from mine. After shooting him a quick smile, I kept my head down for the rest of class. I knew he would just be having eye sex with Elena anyway. Today would be the beginning of their relationship in all it's epic glory. _Blah... to much angst for me. Yeah, yeah, I know... don't be jelly Heth._

A tray dropping lightly in front of me made me look up. _Speak of the devil._

"May I join you?" Stefan asked.

"Be my guest," I said and watched him sit. Popping a fry in my mouth, I scribbled another fact I remembered before bringing my attention back to him. "How's your first day going?"

"Pretty good, thanks," he replied before staring at my notebook. "What are you working on? You have been writing in that all day."

I slid it across to him. "My family tree. I'm sorta stuck after my great grandparents." Leaning over my food I pointed to the names. "See there, my grandfather Charles had a twin sister Maggie. Their father was Bartholomew Sparks. Other than some fun facts, that's all I have before I hit up the archives."

Stefan fingered through my notes with a nod. "Twins run in the Sparks family."

"Really?"

"Yes, from the history I know... the original founding Sparks had three children. A boy and a pair of twin girls," he said making direct contact with my eyes.

His gaze was intense and held so much mystery. The looks he always gives make me question what he is thinking. Before I was able to respond, the shuffling of chairs being pulled out made me turn in their direction.

"There you are." Caroline Forbes smiled widely looking to me and then glanced curiously at Stefan. "We usually meet outside for lunch, what are you doing in here, Heather?"

"Caroline," Elena began as she settled into her own spot, trying not to stare at Stefan. "You know Heather is going to take some time to get back into routine, the least you can do is introduce yourself."

I know that's code for 'our friend doesn't remember shit'. Watching the three new females at the table, I smile and try to fill the deafening silence. "I guess I will know for next time."

Caroline said her name and gave me a side hug before zeroing in on the latest handsome student. "So... Stefan, where did you move from?"

Just like that, the questions started like rapid speed fire. Stefan was graceful as usual with his answers and since I knew most of what there was to know, I concentrated on my burger. After taking a bite, I heard Caroline shriek. To my surprise, I found my new girlfriends gaping at me. "What?" I questioned with a mouthful and ignored Stefan's snickering.

"You're eating a burger." Bonnie pointed out.

After swallowing and taking a quick sip of soda, I was still confused by their surprised glances. "So?"

"You're a vegetarian, you haven't eaten meat in like forever. In fact it's usually a couple times a month you go all PETA on us," Caroline sped out. A loud laugh escaped my lips, especially when I saw Stefan's nervous face. _Aw... don't worry bunny eater, I won't give ya a hard time._ "Well, consider me a carnivore now," I said and continued eating.

Once the shock wore off, Caroline's questioning of Stefan continued. "Have you heard about the back to school party at The Falls? Oh..." She turned to me. "I forgot you probably don't know about it. We go every year."

"Well, count me out," I replied. "I am off tonight because I am covering for Matt and Vicki tomorrow. Sorry." I shrugged. Actually, I was glad the two of them asked to switch days. It meant my little investigation could start sooner.

Stefan looked from me to Elena before responding. "I guess I could stop by." His agreeing to go made Elena's smile brighten. I tried to convince myself that this was a good thing. If those two got together as destined, it's less of a distraction for my plan. Yeah, the thought of them as a couple stung a wee bit since I liked being around him, but I have no time for unrequited crushes. _Plus, hello... did you forget about Phil?_ I just need to keep reminding myself this place isn't real and I don't really belong here.

The bell rang and I rushed to clean up. Taking my notebook back, I gave Stefan a smile and a wave before leaving the table. Sighing, I made my way to another classroom. _When will it be 2:30?_

~[^^^]~

Pulling into the parking lot of a brown brick building, I shut off the engine and watched the patriotic flag whip in the wind high on it's pole. Exiting my car, I tried to find the best way to enter the station. I could take the little stone path that led to the main door or I could go for one of the bay doors that were currently open. I settled on the second option and peeked my head through. Curious about the ongoings inside, I could see at least one fireman washing down a truck while the others donned Redskin jerseys and yelled at the television. Not wanting to interrupt the game, I opted to speak with the one actually doing some work.

A man in his early twenties popped his head up over the cab of the fire truck at the sound of my voice saying 'hello'.

"Hi there." He grinned. "Well let's see..." He pushed himself to a standing position. "I am going to guess you are looking for someone otherwise you came here to report a fire. For the record ma'am, we do recommend dialing 911 and not actually running to the fire station for help."

I couldn't help but laugh at him with his lopsided smile. He was actually really cute in that southern gentleman kinda way. "No fires today. I am actually looking for someone. Can you point me in the direction of your fire marshal?"

"Oh yeah." He wiped his hands on a towel before pointing off to his left. "The chief's office is right down there, second door."

"Thanks." I smiled and began towards the route he gestured to.

"Hey," Mr. Gentleman yelled out. "What's your name?"

Tilting my head, I gave him a little smirk. "Heather."

"Heather," he repeated and nodded his head as if he liked saying it. "It was a pleasure meeting you Heather, I'm Bo." He finished with a wink.

"You too, bye Bo." I trailed with a giggle and turned back to my quest of finding the right office. It was no time to get distracted with flirty boys, I came here looking for some answers. Who knows when I will be off from work again. Thinking of The Grill made me wonder if the gang had met up there yet. If I recall the first episode correctly, Stefan should have crossed paths with Elena in the graveyard and then followed her home. The girls would be interrogating him for information at the restaurant right about now. _Wait, didn't Caroline pretty much do that at lunch already? Hm, no matter. Back to the plan Heth, you do your thing and let them do theirs._

Knocking on the door, a deep voice on the other side gave me access to come in. Upon entering, I found an older man hunched over a desk and writing out some type of paperwork. He was a bit burly with his dark mustache and wide shoulders. Sporting a baseball cap with an engine number patch, the man's unruly salt and pepper hair had curled outward underneath it.

Giving me a once over, his brows furrowed together. "Um, can I help you?"

"Yes, you can," I said sitting down and glancing at his name plaque to make sure I had the right person. "Chief Mitchell," I addressed him. "You responded to a fire two years ago at a flower shop, I was hoping you could answer some questions for me about it."

The chief blew out a breath and leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, I remember and as I told your **father** ," he emphasized, making sure to let me know that he knew who I was, "there was nothing that could have been done. The whole situation was a tragedy."

"Sir, I am sure everyone did their job to help save my mother. I know the whole thing was a horrible accident. That's not why I am here. I want to know about the fumes."

"The fumes?" he asked while his eyebrows raised towards his hairline in disbelief.

"Yes, sir, the toxic fumes... I would like to know more about what happened," I pressed on.

"Look kid, it was just some bad smoke that cleared up on it's own. The issue was handled and that's the end of it," he spoke with an air of finality and went back to his papers in an attempt to dismiss me.

 _Oh, you poor man, you have no idea how persuasive I can be when I want something._ "The article in the paper said it made people sick, but didn't explain how." Watching him closely as he brought his eyes to mine, I caught a quick look of nervousness before it was masked by annoyance.

He shrugged his shoulders and shifted his eyes. "Just a bit of nausea, no big deal."

 _Liar._ "I don't think so, there is no way you evacuated people in a mile radius for a little upset stomach."

"Jesus, kid, let it go!" He huffed. "Stop worrying about stuff that happened two years ago. Go out with your friends and get a milkshake or something."

 _Is this guy serious? Really, a milkshake? Dammit, now I am going to have that song stuck in my head._ "First off, stop calling me kid. Secondly, I am a concerned citizen and it is in my right to ask questions about my well being." I put a hand to my chest for dramatic effect. "If you are not able to supply me with the answers I need," I said and sighed innocently, "maybe I should start with the other shop owners and local residents. However, I do fear that my line of questioning might cause a panic. I mean, who knows if this toxic plant is growing in their own backyard. Maybe that's not poison ivy they have... imagine how quickly the emergency room would fill with alarmed citizens."

The chief looked at me aghast and swallowed. "Anyone ever tell you that you have a nose for politics."

I pondered that briefly. Maybe I should have stuck it out with with Tyler. Letting out an unintentional laugh at my thoughts, I quickly focused back onto the conversation. "No plans there, I just want answers."

"Tell me why," he demanded.

"That is my family's building, something inside there made people sick and I am trying to find out exactly what that was. I, like my mother, know all about plants but I can't determine the species if I don't know the effects."

"Look, ki... Heather," he corrected, "I was at Woodstock, I'm not naive as one would say to the result of certain substances. But the smoke coming out of that shop was like nothing I ever experienced."

"What do you mean?" Now, he had me really curious.

"I mean, the hallucination." He shook his head. "It was just so unreal. Something like a mirror the size of a door just placed itself in front of me."

"You could see yourself?" I questioned, surprised at that notion.

"No... the town," he spoke in a lowered voice. "It was like looking at a mirror of the town, but it was different. I saw across the street, at the park. Through the mirror, I could see huge lights and people standing around. I saw the letters IES. When the smoke cleared, the mirror was gone. I asked around, everyone saw the same exact thing. It's one thing to hallucinate, but for all of us to have the same hallucination... that's unheard of."

 _Okay... yes, that is definitely freaky._ "Did you notice a smell?"

"Yeah." He nodded and squinted his eyes as if trying to recall it. "It was musky like moss but sickeningly sweet at the same time."

"Thank you." I smiled. "Thank you, for telling me the truth. You've been helpful. I won't take up anymore of your time." As I stood to leave, the chief spoke up once again.

"Heather, make sure you do keep that information to yourself. As you mentioned, we don't want to alarm anyone."

"No worries, I simply came in to thank the man who made a valiant attempt to save my mother and the people of Mystic Falls. Thank you, sir." I gave him a genuine smile before walking out of his office.

I bit my lip as I pressed the unlock button on my car remote. One more piece of the puzzle uncovered. A mirror world... what could that possibly mean? I analyzed that very question throughout the drive home.

* * *

Alright, raise your hand if you started singing 'My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard'? C'mon, don't make me feel old. :D Fav/Follow/Review!


	5. Adventures In Conforming

A/N: Note and answers to reviewers questions at the bottom of the chapter. :D

Musical Inspiration

Adventure Of A Lifetime - by Coldplay

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 5

Adventures In Conforming

~[^^^]~

Turning off my car, I sag in relief as I check the clock on the console. By some miracle, I made it to school on time. I gathered up my things on the seat next to me and quickly shoved a granola bar between my teeth. Noticing I once again am missing my writing utensil, I shuffle through my glove box. Lip gloss, insurance card, car book, tic tacs... aha pencil. A knock on the car window startles me and my body jumps. Calming myself, I frown at the other bitten half of my breakfast which is now laying on my floor mat. _Damn, I really wanted that._

Sitting up straight, I look out to find Elena smiling at me. I guess we are walking in together. Putting on my own fake 'it's going to be a wonderful day' smile, I shove my pencil in the bookbag and exit the car.

"So, did you enjoy your night off?" she asked.

"It was relaxing," I said and begin walking. _Just found out that Mystic Falls has freaky plants is all._ "How was The Grill?"

"Same ole." She shrugged. "We had a nice time. Matt was there with Tyler though. He's still avoiding me," she whispered the end in a solemn tone.

"Hm," I hummed out. _So no extra info, okay then_. "I'm sure Matt will be fine in time."

"Yeah, I guess." She nodded. "Oh, I almost forgot..." She put a hand on my shoulder as we got to my locker. "What's this I hear about you breaking Tyler's nose?"

"Wait, you face punched Tyler?" Bonnie's voice chimed in making her presence known.

Rotating the dial, I opened the metal door and slid my backpack off. "It was more like a ninja palm thing."

Elena arched an eyebrow. "Care to explain?"

I tried to hide my guilt ridden face. "He didn't really make a good first impression," I grumbled out.

"I guess you two are really over." Bonnie chuckled.

Crossing her arms, Elena looked down at her feet for a moment before responding. "Don't you want to try and give him a chance to see if there's still a spark there? I mean I know he's like a stranger to you, but the two of you were together for all of last year. Maybe it's worth exploring."

Bonnie opened up her own locker. "Please, the two of them had issues before..." She cut herself off and bit her lip looking sheepish.

"Right... I should get to homeroom," Elena said before hurrying off.

I watched Bonnie's sad eyes follow Elena rushing to the end of the hall. "What was that about?"

With a sigh, Bonnie brought me up to speed. "The night of the bonfire last year, we were all huddled together hanging out when Matt started going on and on about the future. He was questioning Elena about college and how they could get married after. That's when Elena lost it. We all knew that Elena wasn't as invested in the relationship as Matt was but it was like that realization had finally caught up with her. She argued that they were only sophomores and that he was to fixated on plans that were years away."

"She did have a point," I said, "I mean who marries their high school sweetheart and actually have it turn into a happily ever after."

"As you not so subtly pointed out that night." She smirked. "You jumped in and said he was putting to much pressure on her which led to Tyler telling you to mind your own business," Bonnie explained.

"Ah... so that turned into my own couple fight then?" I nodded and closed my locker door.

"Yup," Bonnie said and finished with her own locker. "But honestly, you and Tyler were always arguing. You were on the verge of a breakup anyway. By the end of the night, you agreed to go home with Elena because she was upset."

Further understanding dawned on me with Bonnie's version of events. "So... she thinks this is all her fault because that's how I ended up in the car and in the accident."

Bonnie nodded and leaned against the wall. Just as I was about to ask her more questions, Caroline popped in front of us causing me to jump in fright. _What is it with everyone scaring the hell out of me today?_

Caroline beamed her 100 watt smile at us. "Girls, don't forget cheerleading practice this week."

"Girls as in plural?" I questioned with raised brows.

"Of course." She giggled. "You're part of the team Heth."

"Caroline..." I tried to give her my sternest look. "I don't cheerlead."

"Bonnie can send you the videos of all our cheers for you to practice." She waved off like she didn't hear me. "Oh and I want to see you there in something pink. It's your signature color... so no excuses. Okay, gotta run. See you at lunch," she sped out and gallivanted off.

 _What the hell just happened?_

I guess Bonnie could read my confusion because she answered for me. "Caroline is like the tide, you don't swim against the tide, you just go with it."

I couldn't help but scoff. "But... cheerleading?"

Bonnie smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Think of it as girl time."

Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I followed her into our homeroom. _I'm going to need serious therapy after this little adventure._

~[^^^]~

Walking into the grill, I could tell it was going to be a busy night. Groaning at the fact I didn't want to be here, I felt like I was ready for a nap after dealing with school.

The day had been pretty standard as far as following the show. Stefan made Tanner look like an ass with his correction of battle deaths or something like that. I didn't really pay attention, I was to busy working on my art assignment. It was supposed to be a dog but it ended up looking like a deranged Care Bear. I didn't see much of Stefan for the rest of the day since I had skipped lunch to go talk to Mrs. Bell, the teacher for Advanced Biology. After some arguing about allowing me into her class, I was able to have her test me. Sure enough, after passing with flying colors, I am now a new student of hers.

Going towards the back, I checked Robert's office to find that my imaginary father was no where in sight. I decided to look in the kitchen and as luck would have it, that is where I found him. Robert was standing in front of a cutting board with bowls of vegetables all around him. The poor man looked overwhelmed.

"Need some help?" I called out.

Robert looked up and I could see the relief take over his face. "Yeah, as much as I can get." He blew outward. "We are already short staffed tonight and one of the sous chefs called in sick."

Nodding, I washed my hands and took the spot next to him. I began peeling potatoes as he chopped carrots.

"How's school been?"

"Ah... it's been fine. I got myself into an advanced science class today."

Robert looked surprised. "Really?" He smiled. "That's great, Sweetheart. I knew if you just applied yourself, you could achieve much more in your studies." He continued to looked pleased with the notion of having a smart kid as he moved onto cutting up lettuce. "And how are things with your friends?"

"Good, I guess," I said as I bobbed my head a bit, "Caroline Forbes is a handful though."

Robert laughed at my comment. "She always did try to keep you on your toes. I think that girl is involved in every activity this town offers. That reminds me..." He looked thoughtful. "Doesn't cheerleading start back up soon?"

 _Please, for the love of all that is holy, not him too._ "Yeah... I think so, but that's not really my thing."

He looked at me and his features dropped. "Are you thinking about quitting cheerleading?"

"Um... yes?" Looking at his face, I wasn't really sure if that was a solid yes anymore.

"Oh." He frowned.

 _What is it with the men around here and the puppy dog eyes? Pack your bags Heth, you're going on a guilt trip._

"It's just..." He paused a moment to gather his thoughts. "I always loved having a daughter, but being I didn't have a son to play football, your cheerleading gave me a good reason to enjoy the games," he finished with a small shrug.

 _Damn you story writers, or show writers, or whomever has set me down the path of character clichés._ With a pursing of my lips, I know what I am about to do. I'm going to conform, though I will need to keep reminding myself that it is just a compromise. "Nudad," I begin defeated, "I'll give it a try. Who knows, maybe I'll like it."

"Thanks, Honey." He mysteriously perked up. "By the way, can you go ahead and finish this... I have loads of paperwork to take care of. Thanks, you're a doll." With that, he took off his apron and sped out of the room.

I stared at the door slack-jawed. _Did he just... I think he just played me._ Maybe Robert and I have more in common than I thought. Laughing to myself, I couldn't even be angry. I just shook my head and went back to dinner prep.

...

After rushing around between tables for most of the night, I was glad when it finally slowed. It was thirty minutes till close and I had already begun my end tasks. A few kids from school lingered in. I could only guess that they had come from the party. It made me wonder if it all went according to plan, that was until I spotted Bonnie and Caroline in a booth.

Confused, I walked over to see what was up. "Hey... I thought you guys were at The Falls."

"We were," Bonnie explained, "but some stuff went down so we decided to come here and fill you in. I'm just glad you are still working otherwise we would have had to go to Mainline Coffee."

I looked at the back of Caroline's head which was now resting on top of the table. "I take it she is the one in need of coffee?"

"Yes, please," Caroline slurred out from underneath her blonde strands.

Bonnie patted her friend's head and smirked.

Leaving to grab the coffee pot, I picked the freshest one. When I came back, Caroline was finally in an upright position. I dragged over a seat and sat down. "So what's up with her?" I asked Bonnie as I watched Caroline taking long sips.

"Stefan shot me down," Caroline answered for herself.

 _Oh yeah, I forgot about that tidbit._ "That sucks." I nod. "But... there are plenty of guys out there and most of them like blondes." I smile hoping to make her feel better. From the look on her face, apparently it didn't. _Eh, she'll get over it... she'll be busy with Damon soon enough._ "So what else happened at the party?"

"Right, get this," Bonnie started. "Vicki Donovan was attacked in the woods."

"She okay?" I ask already knowing the answer.

"Matt's with her, I think the paramedics were able to stop the bleeding," Bonnie replied. "After the ambulance was called, the cops shut the whole party down. They think it was some kind of wild animal."

"Heh, imagine that."

"That's it? Aren't you worried? There is some beast running around taking chunks out of people," Bonnie asked me obviously surprised by my demeanor.

"Well... I mean it's an animal. All you need is a gun to take care of it. I'm sure the authorities will wrangle it up." I could tell they were not very convinced. "Hey... look at it this way, be happy we don't live in New Jersey. There, they have the Jersey Devil, a hooved creature with large bat like wings. Apparently, he likes to hang out in the woods looking for his prey. Now, that... is some scary shit."

"Hm," Bonnie hummed out looking intrigued while Caroline gave me an unreadable face.

Seeing that I made things a tad awkward, I stood with the coffee pot. "Well, I better be getting back to my closing duties," I said and walked towards the bar. Through whispering, I still heard what was left of the lingering conversation.

"She's so weird now." Caroline huffed.

"Caroline, give her a break. She's still trying to adjust. Besides... I like this new version of her. She's quirky," Bonnie said and I could hear the smile in her voice.

I had to grin at that. Bonnie was a good friend and I knew eventually Caroline would grow out of this phase. A part of me was going to miss this when it's gone.

...

The end of the evening was here and the building was empty aside from myself. For the first time, Robert was trusting me to close. I couldn't help but take in the emptiness around me and enjoy the privacy. I had one more hour until my curfew. Yes, it irked me to no end that I was technically an adult and had a curfew, but I was playing nice.

The ding on my phone caught my attention as I sipped my soda at the bar. Scrolling through, I could see that Bonnie didn't waste anytime in sending me the cheerleading videos. _How the hell am I going to pull this off? I am not a cheerleader._ Well, I did do gymnastics, but that was a quite few years ago. It was only because my father thought it would make me more graceful. I had to snort at that thought. _Alright._ I clapped my hands together and stood from my seat. _Let's see if I still got it._

After moving all the stools on top of the bar, I turned on my music and eyed the long space in front of me. _I can do this._

Starting with a cartwheel, I ran and put my hands up. Feeling the floor and then air, my feet firmly landed on the ground. _Perfect._

With a smile, I went for the one handed cartwheel followed by a handstand. Standing straight, I did a wee little dance because I nailed it and tried to do something harder.

I was able to pull off a front and back handspring. Had to admit, I was feeling pretty good. But... I should have stopped while I was ahead. I got so cocky that directly after my back handspring, I went for a back layout. Instead sticking the back layout, I was laid out on the ground with a very sore behind. _Ow._

After a multiple tries with some bumps, bruises, and a possible concussion... it finally came back to me. "Yes! Oh yeah! Who's the man... I'm the man!" I yelled while dancing around and clapping.

"Do you know that your voice can be heard from outside?"

Startled, my eyes closed and I clutched my chest to slow my heart down. _Please, please, please... don't be him._ But, it was to late. I knew that voice and I knew he saw me acting like a complete idiot. I honestly didn't want to know how long he had watched. Turning slowly, I open my eyes to see amused green ones staring back at me.

"Sorry," Stefan said but didn't look sorry at all. "I didn't mean to interrupt your... was that a victory dance?"

I nodded and dropped my hands. "Pathetic wasn't it?"

Stefan put his hand out and moved it in an 'iffy' motion. "I think if you would have added a fist pump it might have been salvageable."

"Well..." I smiled. "I'll know for next time." Pivoting, I went to the bar and lowered the music. "So what brings you to the Mystic Grill? It's a little late to be just passing by."

"I came here to see you," he revealed taking a stool off the bar and sitting down.

"Really?" I asked surprised.

"Sure, why not? We're friends aren't we?" he questioned me with a charming smile.

"I guess we are." I nodded as I sat down next to him. Obviously, avoiding him is not working so I guess friends would have to be okay. _Friends with Stefan Salvatore, ha... take that fangirls._ "But I don't know much about you." After saying it, I realized there was some truth to that statement. I knew character facts but not what he was like on a day to day level. Not the things close friends knew.

"So... lets change that," he challenged. "How about 20 questions?"

Laughing out, I saw him eye me curiously. "How very Edward of you."

"Who?"

"It's a Twilight thing." I dismissed with a flick of my hand.

"You've read Twilight?" He smirked.

"Look... don't judge." I pointed at him. "I had no idea what it was about. I was walking through the book store, there was a big display and the cover looked appealing." He gestured for me to continue my explanation further. With a sigh I went on. "It was an apple and everyone knows apples are the forbidden fruit. I mean you have whole Adam and Eve, Snow White, Drapple thing." I end with a laugh. The Drapple concept always makes me laugh.

"I don't understand the last reference."

"Yeah... it's probably better you don't," I replied with a slightly uncomfortable cough. "Anyway, that's the only reason I have read it."

"What else have you read?"

And so the 'getting to know each other better' began. The rest of the time spent at The Grill was with Stefan and I asking questions to one another as I closed up.

As I came from behind the bar with my purse and keys, I went to shut off the lights. "I can't believe you whittle. Do people even do that anymore?"

Stefan shrugged. "You asked about any weird hobbies. I have been doing it since I was a child and I must admit..." He smirked. "I have some mad whittling skills."

I laughed at that. Who knew Stefan Salvatore was so funny? "Well, I insist on seeing some of your work sometime."

"Sure," he agreed while I locked the door, "I'll make you something."

I smiled and fiddled with my necklace trying not to treat this as an end of a date situation. "I'd like that."

"You're always tugging at that." He pointed towards my hand. "May I?" He took a step forward.

"Yeah." I let it go and he brought his hand closer fingering the pendent. "It's a family heirloom, I never take it off." I felt my skin warm at his closeness and found myself needing to fill the silence. "The five stones are set in petrified wood. All the stones have different meanings."

"And the one in the middle?" he questioned while looking up and peering into my eyes. There was that mysterious gaze again, like he held onto secrets I wanted to unravel. I swear this guy is going to be my undoing.

I didn't need to look at the necklace to know which stone he meant. I knew them all by heart. "The dark brown one in the middle is amber. It represents Spirit but gives off the power of protection, beauty, and love." I replied never moving my stare from his.

Swallowing, Stefan took a step back and shoved his hands in his jean pockets. "How about I walk you to your car so that you get home in time?"

"Aren't you just the chivalrous one?" I joked.

"Well... then, M'lady," he said and held out the crook of his arm for me to take, "to your carriage."

Wrapping my arm around his, I followed Stefan to the back parking lot. Trying to keep my breath even, I still could not understand how I felt so comfortable with this man. Be still my heart, Stefan Salvatore was going to make my time here difficult... so, so, difficult.

~[^^^]~

After getting home from dropping Stefan off, I laid in bed and gathered my thoughts. This place was sucking me in, I didn't like that. My body was itching to jump in my car and yell out 'deuces' as I sped out of this crazy town. Sighing, I relaxed into my bed, I knew it wouldn't do any good. According to the great state of Virginia, I was a minor and Robert was my legal guardian. I'm stuck here. Well, at least until I figure out what happened to my mother and find out how to get back. Not able to keep my eyes open any longer, I let them flutter shut before I drifted off to sleep.

...

 _I looked up and studied the large cabin before me. It was run down and the logs used to make it looked weathered, but overall... I could tell it was sturdy. The dwelling sat empty, hidden away from the rest of society, surrounded by the forest. It's exactly how I had hoped it would be._

 _Pushing the floral laced sleeves up to my elbows, I feel the breeze give me a small reprieve from the heat. A young boy my age with light brown hair stood beside me. He was also taking in his surroundings. To his left, an older boy with darker curlier hair leaned against a large rock._

 _"Isn't it perfect?" I spoke out, my voice filled with excitement._

 _The boy by my side shuffled his feet. "Is it safe?"_

 _Almost insulted by his concern, I roll my eyes. "Of course it's safe. The servants lived in it only this year past. Papa moved their quarters closer to the main house in case he needed their help with mad patients." I look back to the cabin with a large smile on my face. "Think of all the fun to be have. We can make it our own." I take a large step forward, but the boy's hand on my arm stopped me from going any further._

 _"I don't think this is wise," he said._

 _The older boy pushed himself off the rock and came to the spot right next to the younger one. "Where is your sense of adventure, little brother?"_

 _I grin and nod in agreement._

 _With a smirk, he looked in my direction. "Tiny tree climber," he addressed me. "Race you inside?"_

 _Instead of giving him my answer, I let out a joyous laugh and ran towards the door of the abandoned cabin. I could hear his own laughter as he chased me._

 _..._

Opening my eyes to a darkened bedroom, I turn towards my bedside clock. It's almost 2:30 am. Groaning, I rub my eyes and burrow into my pillow to get more comfortable. Thinking over the dream I just had, I scoff and start to go back to sleep. _Can't I just be a normal girl and have dreams of Brad Pitt?_

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello all. I just want to send a huge thank you to anyone who Faved/Followed/Reviewed. It is much appreciated and it makes me try to write this story awesome for you. I usually try to keep my notes short, but since this is a less than action packed chapter, I will take some time to give you some info and answer reviewer questions. If more questions pop up then I will set up another Q &A for a later chapter.

 **Flashback note:** Honestly, as a reader I am not a fan of flashbacks. Unfortunately, in a story like this, some are required. To make it easier on those who are like me, I have it set up now that you will still get the info without having to go through the whole scene. If there is a flashback, please know that it is vital. I know there will be a longer one in the future and it will explain everything. Till then, I promise to keep them to a minimum.

 **Q: Is Heather a doppelganger or a reincarnation?** Heather is not a doppelganger, we have enough of that with Elena. As for a reincarnation... ah, it's a little more in depth than that.

 **Q: Will there be a love triangle?** This is such a hard question to answer. Let's just say there will be lots of feelings going around while some of them may be misconstrued. I don't want to give to much away because I have some cool twists planned.

 **Q: How much do you plan on changing the original series?** I am actually not sure yet because Heather is so focused on other things. There will definitely be changes though, as you can see things are already different. Heather isn't even aware of the huge impact she is making just by being there. When she does actually step up and involve herself, it's going to completely mess with everything.

 **Q: Will there be Delena?** I'm not 100% sold on Delena yet, but know that if I do dabble there... they will not be endgame. Even though this story will end with season one, I already have season two worked out for the next story.

 **Q: When will there be Damon?** Damon is coming up I promise. Heather and Damon's actual meeting will be either Chapter 6 or 7. Also, yes I do plan to have fun with those two.

So that's it from me. If you had a question that went unanswered by either myself or the story, I apologize because it means I overlooked it. If so, or if there are any new questions from the readers, throw me a review and I will make sure to get to it in a future Q&A. Thanks again guys, you all have been wonderful. Don't forget to Fav/Follow/Review. :D


	6. Down To Answers

A/N: The Brad Pitt review comment made me laugh. So true. You can blame that on me watching 'Ocean's Eleven' the night before. I'm sure one of these days he will come out with another movie that will make him sexy again. :D Thanks again for all the Fav/Follows/Reviews. You all totally keep me writing.

Musical Inspiration

Running Down A Dream - by Tom Petty

(Playlist in profile updated)

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 6

Down To Answers

~[^^^]~

 _Goal of the day, do-not-get-caught._

Shoving the warm jeans into my bag, I finish tying up my newly worn scrub pants. I can thank Matt for this morbidly genius idea. When the two of us had English together, I mentioned that I was glad for him that Vicki was going to be okay. His response was 'Yeah, I'm grateful it wasn't worse, otherwise, I would have been visiting my sister in the morgue'. The mention of the morgue was all it took for my ever plotting mind to land me back in my favorite hospital hang out... the linen closet.

The plan was simple. I just had to get through the huge receptionist guarding the elevator that goes to the basement. Once down there, I could sneak into the medical examiner's office and check out my mother's file. My cover story's weak, but I'm hoping it's enough for that brick house of a woman to let me through.

Pumping myself up, I put my hand on the door knob. _Let's do this._

I took three steps out of the room and turned to march my way down the hallway, but instead, I was jerked backwards. Hands wrapped themselves around my arms and caught me from falling over.

"Heather?"

Snapping my head up, I'm surprised to find Stefan staring at me. _What is he doing here?_ "Hi," I said sheepishly as I tried to right myself. Once I was able to stand on my own, I watched as he looked around nervously. _What's his problem?_ It wasn't until I seen Matt rush around the corner end of the hall that it all clicked. As fast as humanly possible, I yanked Stefan back through the door in which I came.

Once inside, I locked the door behind me and gazed at Stefan who looked bewildered but relieved. I chastised myself for not remembering that this was the same day he came to make Vicki forget it was Damon that attacked her. But seriously, what were the chances of him running into me in this huge hospital? Pretty darn good it would seem. Thankfully, I was sure Matt didn't see us.

Not wanting to put him in an awkward position that I knew he couldn't explain, I spoke up first. "So... you're probably wondering what I'm doing here."

"I'm actually curious as to why you locked us in here. Oh and why you are in scrubs... again."

The little reference to how we first met did make this a bit of a déjà vu moment. Wrestling with how much I wanted to explain, I settled on some truth. "I have a plan." Leaning against the back of the door, I continued. "You know how I have been trying to learn more about my family?"

He nodded for me to go on.

"Well, a lot of that circles around my mother. She is the main thing that links myself here in the present, to the memories I have of my past."

Looking confused, Stefan tilted his head and I could see his uncertainty. "So... this has to do with your amnesia?"

Frustrated, I just wanted to scream 'I don't have amnesia! This is not my life and I don't belong in this world, which by the way, is a freaking television show!' Sighing, I rubbed my head. I needed to handle one thing at a time. "Look, the memory I have of my mother does not match up with what I have been told. From what I remember, my mother has been missing for the last 6 years. Now, I wake up here and find out she died in a fire 2 years ago. I need answers."

"Okay." Stefan studied me curiously. "How does stealing scrubs from the hospital linen closest help you with that?"

 _And... here is where he thinks I'm crazy._ "I'm breaking into the medical examiner's office to look at her file." Watching his eyes widen, I try to explain myself. "Just listen. I know it sounds insane... but there has been clues that something was odd about that fire. Plus..." I exhaled slowly. "I need to know if it's her."

"Heather," he said gently. "This is not the way to go about getting answers."

"You don't understand," I insisted. "I have been searching for her for so long. Knowing she could have been here, that's the first lead I've gotten that could turn into something. My mother was... is the most important person in my life. You couldn't ask for a better mother." I paused as pictures of my childhood ran through my mind. "She was compassionate, and gentle. She taught me everything about how to look at the world and she was always there for a sympathetic ear." I shook my head to keep my emotions in check. "I need closure or hope, I can't keep straddling between both."

Stefan blew out a breath and after a long pause he nodded. "Alright."

 _That was to easy._ I arched my eyebrow at him unsure. "You're not going to try to talk me out of it or stand in my way?"

"No." He slipped off his leather jacket. "Actually, I am going to help you."

"Your..." My mouth popped opened and closed in bewilderment. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I care about you and... I don't want to see you get arrested." He finished with a smile.

All I could do was stare at him in shock before a smile graced my face as well. He was going to help me. _Gah, he's amazing. Elena was one lucky bitch._ When he took off his shirt to slide on the scrubs, my eyes dilated. _Not only is he amazing on the inside but on the outside as well._

"Heather... um." He fidgeted while holding up scrub pants. "I have to..."

"Right... of course. Right" I stuttered out and quickly turned around. Mouthing 'Oh my god' with my back turned, I can't believe the body on that guy or the fact I was caught ogling him.

"How exactly does this plan of yours work?"

Still facing away from him as he changed, I laid it out for him as simple as I could. "We have to get through the receptionist who monitors the elevator. I thought I would tell her we are from the college and are shadowing the medical examiner for the day. If google is correct, his name is Dr. Walters."

"And if she doesn't believe us?"

 _You can compel her._ "That's when you can jump in with those wonderful manly charms of yours."

I could hear him laughing. "You want me to flirt with her?"

"Whatever gets the job done."

"You can turn around now," he called out.

When I did, I smirked at him in this attire. _Helloooo Dr. Salvatore, McDreamy has nothing on you._ "Ready?"

Nodding, Stefan gathered his things and both of us exited into the hallway. "So, what happens when we get into the basement?" he asked.

"I didn't really make a plan for that part other than getting into the office down there," I admitted. He looked at me incredulously and stumbled a step as we made it to the reception desk. _Well, that wasn't very graceful for a vampire._ Giving the receptionist a bold smile, I patiently waited for her to get off the phone.

Pulling the head piece away from her mouth, the brutish looking woman eyed the two of us. "Can I help you?"

"I hope so," I said giving her an girly giggle. "The two of us," I gesture to Stefan and myself, "are here to shadow Dr. Walters for the evening. We are hoping this is the right place. We can't seem to find out how to get to the basement." I leaned in closer and whispered to her. "We're late."

She backed up slightly. _Okay, has issues with personal space... noted._

"I was not made aware of any students here to see Dr. Walters. There is nothing in my memo about it. I think I should call him," she said and touched her fingers to the number pad of the phone.

Before I could talk her out of it, Stefan went in for the save. He placed his hand on hers. "You don't need to do that. As my friend here said, we are already late." Bending forward, his eyes made direct contact with hers. "You could let us down there... this once."

"I can let you down there," she replied in dreamy state.

Winking at Stefan on a job well done, I slipped past the desk and pushed the down button on the wall. Once we were both inside, I relaxed a little and tried to keep calm on the ride down. "Nicely done, I knew she couldn't resist your bewitchery."

He smirked at that like it was his own inside joke, but since I knew the truth, I found it amusing as well. "So what now?" he asked just as the elevator floor level rung out.

Watching the door open, I stared out the gap that gave access to the dark hallway. "We cross our fingers and hope for the best."

Gliding our way through the long corridors, we followed the black spray painted arrows on the concrete walls. I concentrated on the path before me and casually glanced at the plaques on the doors. So far, we have been lucky and haven't found anyone creeping up on us.

"Are you humming the Scooby Doo theme song?"

I stopped in my tracks and caught Stefan's corner mouth quirked upward. I hadn't even realized I was doing that. _That's kinda embarrassing._ Choosing not to answer him, retook my steps.

Noticing light streaming through a windowed door, Stefan and I stopped to peer inside the squared glass opening. I could see freezers lining the wall and a man hovering over what I believed to be a corpse. It looks like we found the postmortem room. To my surprise, the examiner moved from his inspection and the body he was working on came into full view. I let out a gasp at seeing the exposed open chest of the man laying on the slab. My body let out a tremble that caused me to accidentally hit the door knob.

Stefan pulled the both of us into a crouch before the medical examiner could turn and see us. He gave me an understanding look and popped his head up again to make sure we were in the clear. Nodding at me, as he once again bent down and took my hand. "We should go check his office while he's occupied."

"Good plan," I replied and allowed him to lead me away.

Finding his office only two doors down, we both entered and I went straight for the computer. I thanked my lucky stars that the thing wasn't password protected and double clicked myself right into the morgue database. With my adrenaline going at full force, I typed in her name. A moment later, the file was found. "Got it."

"Heather wait," Stefan said as he lifted my hand from pushing the mouse button, "there might be pictures."

I hadn't even considered that. Seeing images of my mother's burned body would surely cause some mental scars. _I can't see that._

"Let me look first, I will pull up the written report for you," he said and helped me out of my chair only to take it directly after.

As I stepped away from the desk, I looked at him in awe. "Thank you." Being this situation was unusual, this was the kindest gesture he could have offered. I made myself mark this memory as one for which I will always owe him. I studied his face as he viewed the content on the screen. Though he tried to mask his features, I could tell by the flicker in his eyes that he was indeed viewing something gruesome.

"Okay." He stood up. "Just scroll down and you can read all the notes."

I again thanked him with a small smile and took my place in front of the monitor. Her name lined the top of the form with the date of her death. The external examination section went into details upon her arrival and I cringed at reading that 98% of her body had been burned. Page after page, listed information about each of her body's systems that were inspected. Swallowing hard, I skipped to the last page.

 **Notes: Trachea/bronchi and lungs contain soot claiming enough evidence for diagnosis of smoke inhalation death. Body is deemed unrecognizable. Family made proper identification by jewelry located on victim at time of death.**

Feeling my heart pound, I went back and scanned the pages for jewelry listed. Finding it, I arched forward and read very carefully.

 **Left hand, ring finger, gold wedding band present with little damage. Right hand, middle finger, adjustable mood ring perfectly in tact. No other jewelry worn.**

I stared at the screen blankly while my mind filtered through the information and assessed it. I suddenly became grateful to the fates for making me a science nerd. Emotions swirled and my breathing increased. I could feel my eyes watering, and I touched my mouth to keep myself from choking out the words that lay on my tongue.

"Heather." I felt Stefan's hand on my shoulder. "What is it?"

Shaking my head and squeezing my eyes briefly, I gazed up to him and smiled. "It's not her."

"How can you be sure?" he asked carefully. I assume he was prepared for my disappointment and figured I might be giving myself false hope, but I knew better.

I pointed to the screen. "Read that." After he was finished, I explained. "Gold only melts at a really high Celsius. If you recall the different metals info from science class, you know that it takes silver even less degrees before it breaks down. First off, a mood ring that didn't melt means glass was used to contain the crystals inside. Being it's adjustable, titanium or steel couldn't be used for the metal band. Brass or silver would have had some type of damage as they melt at a low temperature as well.

"Where are you going with this?" he asked.

"The metal had to be nickel based," I said excited. "Stefan, my mother had a nickel allergy. There is no way she would have been wearing that. In fact, the only thing she ever wore was a wedding band because she didn't want to chance any other jewelry." I let out a laugh of pure joy. "Don't you see, this woman in the file is not mother. It can't be her." Before I could stop myself I jumped up and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "It's not her," I said bouncing.

I pulled back beaming and wiped a happy tear that slipped from my eye. Stefan let out a low chuckle at my bliss, but his mirrored smile slipped from his face quickly. "He's coming," he sped out as he powered off the computer and dragged me through a door. A door that just happened to lead into a tiny supply closet, a tiny supply closet that I was now pressed up against Stefan in. _Oh... hello there chiseled chest._ Did I mention it was also very dark?

Feeling his hands tighten around my waist, the sound of the office door and a person entering echoed through. The creaking of a chair signaled that he was at his desk.

"Sheriff, this is Dr. Walters at the hospital. I have just finished the second autopsy from the campers found this morning. I can say without a doubt that they both died from massive blood loss. The wounds were so deep that it not only tore open the jugular but also the carotid artery."

An unintentional shiver ran through me and I felt Stefan pull me closer to him. With everything going on, I didn't think much of Damon or what a psycho he was during the first season. It sounds like he's been a busy boy.

"Yes... yes. We need to get on top of whatever is causing this."

The one sided conversation continued on. Chancing a glance at Stefan, I lifted my head up to meet his face. Now that my eyes had adjusted, I studied his worried features that were focused on the door.

I wonder how he deals with all this. Fear of his secret being found out, fear of losing control... it must be exhausting. The blood for him must be like an addiction. I myself have never had one, well... there was that two week period when I found out that they had a version of snickers with almonds. _Mm, almonds._ It's decided, I am totally getting a snickers after this.

Stefan's eyes catching mine broke me out of my chocolate fantasy. I gave him a smile of reassurance to let him know I was holding it together just fine under the circumstances. His eyes softened and they continued to appraise me as if I was a priceless work of art. Feeling a finger graze my cheek, I noticed him pushing back a piece of my hair. Heart rate increases, breathing increases, my skin warms... all due to one touch. My body is reacting to Stefan and I'm helpless to stop it. I can feel the air around me getting thicker and my sight flickers to his lips. Did he just inch forward?

 _Stop, stop, stop._ The rational mind kicks in. _Elena, he is cosmically fated to Elena. Even if by some miracle you two got together, you want to go home._ _You'll leave him, and that's not fair to either one of you. Also, you forgot about Phil again. Jeez, you really are a sucky girlfriend._

"Okay Liz, just take care of yourself and keep me posted. Goodbye."

The ending of the call caused me to pull back. Would he have kissed me? I bounced that question back and forth in my brain all while listening for the doctor to leave his office. After the sound of shuffling papers, the door could clearly be heard shutting.

Stefan took a step to the left. "Let me check first," he said and poked his head through the tight opening of the doorway. Tugging my hand, he pulled me out of the closet. "He left, but we need to get out of here now. There is no telling when he will be back."

"Let's go, we have definitely overstayed our welcome." Adjusting the bag on my shoulder, I placed myself at Stefan's side and two of us took off out the door. Racing down the corridor, I was taken by surprise when I heard yelling behind me.

"Hey... no one is suppose to be down here!"

Not looking back, the both of us ran to the elevator and pushed the button frantically. As soon as the doors opened a sliver, the two of us were squeezing through and hitting the up button. The booming voice became louder as it closed the distance. Panicking, I looked to Stefan while he held in the lit circle as if willing it to instantly teleport us there. When the doors finally slid close and the angry voice on the other side became muffled, I slumped against the wall in relief.

"So... that went well," I said still trying to catch my breath.

Stefan grunted out a laugh. Yes, that beautiful man actually grunted. "If almost getting caught went well, then sure. Nicely done."

"But we didn't get caught," I replied. "We got in, got the information we needed, and got out. Mission accomplished. Next time I'll prepare more."

"Next time." Stefan straightened his stance. "What do you mean next time, Heather?"

"Well, I not planning anything at the moment, but you have to admit this new knowledge about my mother leads to other avenues. I'm not that closer to the answers I'm looking for. I have only just eliminated a possibility. I still need to find out where she is."

I guess Stefan could hear the determination in my voice because he sighed and shook his head. "You're still a..." he began but paused and started over. "You are going to be a handful."

Replying with a bright smile, I stepped through the opening of elevator and walked right past the basement guardian's desk. "Did you bring your car here?" I asked Stefan who had just caught up to me.

"No, it was a nice day so I walked," he casually responded.

 _Meaning, you ran through the woods with your crazy vampire speed._ "I can give you a lift home," I said and began to root through my bag. The sound of someone greeting me made me stop and look up. Standing in front of a soda machine was Matt Donovan curiously looking between Stefan and I.

"Hey Matt," I said in a friendly tone hoping not to make him suspicious.

"Heather," he said and looked to my companion. "Stefan. What are you two doing here... together?"

"Oh..." I laughed and shifted my hand to the vampire and myself. "Stefan here, was just escorting me to um... regression therapy," I said spitting out the first thing that popped in my head.

Matt slanted his head puzzlement. "Regression therapy?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "You know, for my amnesia. I'm still trying to get those pesky memories back." There goes my awkward laugh again.

"Right." He eyed Stefan. "I'm sure Tyler will be happy to hear that." Bringing his attention back to me, his eyebrows pulled together. "Why are you both in scrubs?"

 _Come on Matt, why are you making this difficult?_ "We had to change. Uh... soda accident. This guy here..." I lowered my voice and nudged my thumb towards Stefan. "Thought it would be funny to shake up my soda can. Oh, but I got him back. Yessiree, I got him good." Great now I can do a stuttered awkward laugh.

"Oh," Matt said and gave a look like he thought I was bit mental.

A figure catching the corner of my eye made me turn in the direction we came. I could feel Stefan stiffen beside me and as I looked at the burly receptionist, I knew why. She sat there talking to a doctor and was pointing in our direction. _Shit._ Taking Stefan's hand, I quickly addressed Matt.

"Well, we have to get going. Hope Vic gets better soon. See ya."

Stefan and I walked at a fast pace past a gobsmacked Matt. Once around the corner, we broke out into a run and laughed as we exited the hospital. Not getting caught again, we both settled into my car and laughed some more.

Once he calmed down, Stefan got comfortable in the seat. "That was a little to close."

"Well," I said as I drove out of the parking lot, "we would have been out of there sooner if it wasn't for Matt. Oh, by the way, thanks for all your help with that. Your conversation skills are abysmal."

"You had it covered." He smirked. "Yessiree, you had it covered." He finished with a chuckle.

 _Smart ass._ Rolling my eyes, I turned on the radio to prevent him from anymore teasing.

Opening the window and leaning his arm out, Stefan listened to the music. "You like Tom Petty?" he asked in a surprised tone.

I nodded, still focusing on the road. "It's the last concert I went to. Me and my friends had an amazing time. Box seats." I couldn't help but smile at that memory. We danced, we sang, we drank, my best friend threw up shrimp cocktail all over my Volvo. _Good times._

"Why would Tyler be happy about you getting your memories back?" Stefan asked nonchalantly.

 _That was random._ "Apparently, we use to date. I think Matt's hoping for a reunion."

I could feel Stefan's stare so I glanced over at him. His face was unreadable. "Will there be a reunion?" he asked.

"No." I laughed out and shook my head before pulling up to his house. "We are definitely not getting back together." Noticing Elena's car, my mood sobered. "Elena's here," I said nodding in the direction of her vehicle.

"I wasn't expecting her." His brows furrowed as he stared at the house. "She's helping me with something," he whispered out before turning back to me. "I better get inside. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?"

I shrugged. "I'm working tomorrow. Robert expects a large crowd because everyone will be in the square for the comet."

"I'll look for you," he said and pointed at me. "Stay out of trouble." With a wink, he left my car.

Not able to take my eyes off him until he entered the house, I groaned and dropped my head onto the steering wheel. This Stefan crush was getting worse. I am seriously a glutton for punishment. I really did want him to kiss me today. I shouldn't have, I knew the complications of that. But right now, I wanted to tell my rational mind to shove it.

Putting my car in drive, I started on my way. Sending Stefan to the back burner of my mind, I focused on today's findings. My mother didn't die in that fire but who was the person that did? Was my mother even there? Is the woman in this world my real mother or is she still back in my world. More questions and more things that can't be ignored. If I am going to try and sort this all out, I am definitely going to need an almond snicker.

* * *

Yay! Stefan and Heather time. Still trying to come up with a ship name... Steather or Heathan maybe, I don't know. Fav/Follow/Review!


	7. Saucy Impressions

Musical Inspiration:

Starlight - by Muse

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 7

Saucy Impressions

~[^^^]~

The day of the comet arrived and Mystic Falls was in full celebration mode. As I made my way into work, I noticed the park across the street was full of vendors and families. It seemed the whole town had come out to view the spectacle. Even most of The Grill's patrons had moved to the outdoor tables.

I still didn't understand why they closed the school for this. Despite the fact the institute said it was a teacher's workshop day, everyone knew it was because of the comet.

Elena caught my eye while she was passing out flyers with Bonnie so I shot her a quick wave. She returned it with a smile before I entered The Grill. Shifting the large pot in my hand, I started off towards Robert's office.

I thoroughly had enjoyed my free morning. I woke up and did some much needed mediation. After yesterday's revelation regarding my mother, it was nice to feel a bit more at peace. Afterwards, I was able to get some gardening done around the house. I could tell immediately that my mother had left behind a very distinctive witch's garden. The flowers in the front were more for beauty, but the ones in the back, they were herbs and plants I knew were used for other purposes. Still though, I didn't come across any freaky plants. I knew if I was going to find what I was looking for, it would be in the building in the back of our house.

Looking down once more at my gift, I took in the cheerfulness of the vibrant blues, whites, and touches of yellow. I knocked and waited for my acceptance of entrance. Gaining it, I entered the office to find Robert relaxed in his chair with his sneakered feet resting on his desk. He lifted his eyes to smile in welcome.

"Hey." Robert took his feet down and sat up straighter. "I thought you weren't due in for another hour?"

"I wasn't, but I wanted to bring you these." I put the flower arrangement down on his desk. "I picked these this morning because I recalled your office looked a little to depressing." It was true, his office was nothing but white walls and rows of filing cabinets, but I did have an ulterior motive as well. "Their wishbone flowers." I pointed to them "With the comet buzz going on, I thought it was kinda clever. Now, I know the saying isn't wish upon a comet, but still... why not." I gave him a shrug.

He stared at the flowers with a forlorn look. It made me apprehensive and I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. Trying to fill the silence I rambled on. "The technical term for the flowers are actually Torenia Fournieri. They're a relative of snapdragons. I really like them because they look like their laughing and we all need some laughter right." I forged a laugh. "Spiritually they are meant for protection and... oof." I was suddenly smothered in a hug. I hadn't even noticed he left his chair.

"You're just like your mother. Same knowledge, same thoughtfulness, same interests." The corner of his lips curved upward in approval before sighing and pulling away. "I'm sorry, Honey, I didn't mean to tackle you."

"No, it's okay." I patted him on the shoulder and bit my lip thinking how I could slide in my question. "Actually, since you mentioned my interest in flowers... I was wondering if I could check out the greenhouse behind our home. I saw the big lock on the outside of the door."

Robert seated himself on the edge of the desk. "Well, I rather you not until the windows can be fixed. I'll admit I haven't kept up maintenance. It's really to dangerous to go poking around as is."

A pout formed on my lips and I cast my eyes downward.

"How about this," he began, "I will make the call tomorrow to have the glass repaired and then you can do with it whatever you like. Would you like that?"

I internally smirked. _She shoots, she scores._ "Yup, thanks. That would be great."

"Robert." A voice called out with a quick knock. Without waiting, Vicki Donovan strolled through the door a second later. I discreetly studied the bandage on her neck and she took a moment to scowl at me before turning to my guardian. "I wanted to discuss my schedule with you."

"Vicki, you have missed a lot of time," Robert said and crossed his arms across his chest.

And that's my cue to leave. "I'll let you both work this out, I'm going to go see if they need help in the kitchen."

"Thanks, Sweetheart. Make sure you check in with Albert, he looked a little flustered today."

Ah... Albert, our head chef. The man was a scatterbrain, but he knew how to cook good food. "Will do," I said and exited the office. There was no reason to acknowledge Vicki, I knew she hated me for my past connection to Tyler. It made me curious if there was still the Tyler/Jeremy triangle going on.

Striding into the kitchen, I could hear rap music along with the clanging of metal pots hitting each other. Another thing about Albert that stood out was that he liked to pretend he was Eminem while he cooked. Listening to a man rap with a heavy southern twang was not a pleasant experience. In between verses, he would order his sou-chefs to bring him whatever he needed.

The kitchen employees worked at full efficiency. It was fast paced and if you didn't go with the flow, you were kicked out.

"Albert," I yelled over the music, "what do you need me to do?"

"Hey girl... I'm making my special chili. Why don't you bring me some tomato juice? Oh and not that V8 crap... I want the real stuff."

"Sure thing." I nodded and went on my search. Exploring the cabinets I was able to find one large can left. I used the automatic opener to remove the tin lid and carefully took my paces to bring it to the head chef. Unfortunately, all it took was one rowdy song to get the staff going. One bump and tomato juice overflowed from the can in my grip. My next step went out from under me and I landed on my bum in a pool of red. Lifting my hands to eye level I could see they were drenched in red juice. Closing my eyes to bask in my own stupidly, the remembrance of my red hands played over and over again.

"Oh, no, Heather. Are you okay?" Albert asked, pulling me up.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Sorry about that." I looked down at my now stained clothes. "It looks like we are out of tomato juice now."

"Damn," Albert said picking up the empty can. "This was the last one?" When I nodded in reply, he walked over to the big pot on the stove and eyed it sorrowfully. "That's going to be a problem."

"No worries, Al, I'm not even on shift yet. I think I have some extra clothes in my locker, I'll just get changed and run to the store." I cringed when I thought of the clothing tucked away in the employee's room. Whatever was in there belonged to 'old Heather'.

Albert sagged in relief. "Thanks, Girl, I'll just set this on simmer until you get back." Without another word the southern chef tightened the bandanna around his head and went to prepare something else.

Taking one last look at my hands, I crinkled my nose and rushed to get cleaned up before the smell set in.

...

My ponytail swished behind me as I trudged my way into the supermarket. I scanned the aisles looking for the canned vegetable section. Noticing the store was pretty sparse for a Thursday afternoon, I chucked it up again to the comet buzz. Reading through the labels, I started at the bottom shelf and worked my way up. Pureed tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, tomato paste... where the hell is tomato juice? I squinted while concentrating on the top shelf. There was a gap between the cans and I'm guessing that is where the juice should be.

Taking a step backwards, I arched my head to a better angle to see if there were any employees near by. Finding myself alone, I weighed my options. I could go to the checkout counter and drag someone back here or... I could make the climb up on the self and take a look for myself. The shelves looked sturdy enough. I'm not that heavy and I'm short on time.

Once again checking to make sure the coast was clear, I tugged down on my jean skirt. Of course it would be a skirt and a custom pink 'Mystic Grill' shirt in my locker. Rolling my eyes, I focused back on the feat before me. Reaching out my arms, I gripped the shelve and took a step up.

Climbing three selves high, I was able to eye the dark space. I pushed each can to the side while struggling with my grip on the edge. I held on tighter when a smooth voice spoke behind me.

"Well it's no Mount Everest, but I guess people in small towns have to make due. Watch out though, green bean peak is known for avalanches."

Knowing I wasn't in a position where I was able to turn around, I closed my eyes and tried to swallow down my embarrassment. "Do you work here?" I asked.

"As attractive as my voice may sound announcing the next blue light special, I could never pull off the smiley face vest."

Trying to calm down the flush of my skin, I told myself it was only some random asshole. Wanting to get out of this store as soon as possible, I went back to sliding around the cans. "Look, I just need to find tomato juice and then I will get down. I don't need any help."

"Oh, but I think you do need help. Not only are you hanging off the top shelf like Sia from her chandelier, but you're also giving your fellow shoppers a peep show. I thought I would be a gentleman and protect your honor."

Letting out a small shriek of horror, I quickly shifted my legs in hope that I was more covered.

"Don't worry, I'm sure no one can see anything unless they were directly under you. Oh, would you look at that, two for one sale on creamed corn."

I felt him move closer and his hand brushed against my leg. My eyes widened in surprise and the mortification I had felt was quickly being replaced with anger. "Listen up, Buddy, if you don't move this instant, I'm going to..."

"Tsk, Tsk, Cherry, such a temper you have. Maybe you should lay off the Bloody Marys, no one likes an angry drunk."

"First off, you don't know me well enough to give me a nickname. Secondly, I'm not drunk. The tomato juice is for chili, not an alcoholic beverage." Letting out a huff of breath, I tried to ignore him and went back to my search. "Aha." One can, I found one can. It didn't matter though because that was all I needed. Pushing myself upward on the balls on my feet, I was able to reach forward and grip it.

Once I had it in my possession, I felt my legs wobble. "Uh-oh." My fingers clawed the rim of the metal shelf but it wasn't enough to keep my hold. Falling back, my stomach flip flopped and my body prepared itself to hit the floor. Instead, leather clad arms wrapped themselves around my waist. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I clutched the can tighter. A head came close to my ear and a husky voice began to whisper.

"Hm, blue panties, I really thought it would have been red to match your hair."

Freeing my body from the arms of my perverted savior, I took a step forward to right myself. As I whirled around to reply to the strangers comment, I found myself alone in the aisle. Turning and looking every which way, I was completely stumped as to where he went.

"That was creepy," I mumbled and looked at the prize in my hands. I got my juice. With a victory smile, I shook off the incident and marched my way to the checkout.

~[^^^]~

The music was loud and so was the chatter at the now packed Mystic Grill. Even my friends, the main cast gang, were squished around a small table. While Matt was their main server, I would get an occasional comment from them as I rushed by with someone's order. Caroline had made it a point to shout out that she approved of my outfit while I balanced a tray full of drinks.

As I made my way to the bar, I could hear raised voices discussing Vicki. I glanced up to see Elena's little brother, Jeremy, in a heated argument with Tyler. _Yeah, nope... I'm staying clear of that._

I handed Evan, the bartender, my slip with table twelve's beverage order. He gave me a nod in acknowledgment and went of fix them as I drank a soda.

"Heather," Matt's voice rang out.

I lifted my lips from the straw and put my glass down.

"Have you seen Vicki?" he asked.

 _Jeez, that girl is more trouble than she's worth._ "No, not since earlier. Why, what's wrong?"

Running a hand through his hair, he let out the long breath. "No one has been able to find her."

"I'm sure she's fine Matt," I tried to reassure him. "She probably just found some cool place to view the comet."

"Yeah," he said not very convincingly, "you're going on break soon, do you think you could..." he trailed off.

I let out a controlled sigh, having an idea of exactly where she was. "Sure," I replied. Matt has been nothing but nice to me so I thought it was only fair to try and ease his worry. "I'll help you look."

He gave me a grateful smile. "Thanks, I'll be out in the square."

Watching him leave, I grabbed my now ready order off the bar and delivered it to my customer's table. I untied my apron and let the hostess know I was taking my break so she could relay it to the other servers.

Once outside, I jogged across the street to look for Matt. I made my way through the park to see Stefan leaving Matt's location. Getting the blond's attention, I slowed my pace.

"Hey... any luck?" I asked.

"No." He shook his head.

"That was Stefan, right?"

Matt nodded, but never took his eyes off Stefan's retreating back. "I don't trust that guy. He's always around you or Elena." He brought his eyes back to me and tilted his head. "I think we should follow him."

"What?" A sliver of panic ran through me. That's not how this is suppose to go. Damn, this was bad. Recalling this episode, I knew Vicki was on a roof somewhere around here getting manhandled by Damon. "No, don't worry about him. Come'on we're trying to find Vicki remember?"

"Yeah, but..."

"No but's. We can both circle around the park in opposite directions and then meet up when each of us is through our half. We will cover more ground that way," I said sternly. I had to get him as far away from that roof as I could.

Reluctantly he agreed and we both set off on our own course. He went towards the vendors and I took off like a bat outta hell down the path Stefan went. Once I got to the street, I bent and placed my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. _Why on earth am I involved in this shit? Can't these people just follow the damn plot and leave me out if it?_

Feeling my heart rate slow a bit, I looked towards the rooftops for any bobbing heads. Hearing faint screams, I narrowed my eyes towards an auto body shop. Sure enough, three floors off the ground stood the top half of two leather jackets. _These vampires do not know the meaning of inconspicuous._

Crossing the road, I looked at all the closed shops that were obviously locked. _How the hell am I gonna get up there?_ Walking around back, I tried other doors but was unable to open them as well. Finally, I stopped in front of a fire escape. My eyes followed it up. I noticed it did indeed have rooftop access and since the buildings were all built like row homes, I was in luck.

Pulling down the latter, I called out to Vicki, hoping any shenanigans that were going on would be halted. I really didn't want to me compelled to forget anything I seen or eaten for disrupting.

"Hello, you up here Vicki?" I yelled out once I was close to the top.

Pulling myself over top edge, I could see Stefan staring at me in concern. I walked over to the ledge of the building to step over onto the one they were all currently on. Taking in the scene, I noticed Vicki trying to sit herself upright on the ground and Stefan shifting his body left to right in a nervous motion. My eyes finally landed on Damon Salvatore. Though I had yet to be introduced to this character, he still came off as he did on the show.

He stood there with that cocky smirk while he rested one hand in the other. His stance was dominant and his dark hair looked more wavy than I would have imagined. Blue eyes stared at me in a predatory fashion. It made me more weary of him than I had originally been.

Deciding to get out of this situation as quickly as I could, I took a step towards Matt's sister. "Hey, Vic, you alright?"

She scoffed and let out a low laugh. "Like you would care, Princess."

Rolling my eyes, I offered her my hand. "Matt's looking for you. He was worried."

"God, I feel so loopy," she said as she tried to gain her balance, "Matty must have sent out a search party, that's what these guys were doing here too... looking for me."

So, that's what they compelled her to think.

"Why did you come though? Don't tell me you are trying to be some do-gooder now. I remember what you are really like. You and your little stuck up clique."

Heh, I didn't think it was possible to despise this character even more, but I stand corrected. "I came because Matt's my friend and he was getting pretty frantic. Also, once I realized you were up here, I didn't want you to fall off the roof and go splat. Some of my customers are eating outside tonight, I didn't want you to ruin their dinner," I said with a sarcastic grin. I raised an eyebrow when I heard a deep chuckle. Of course it was Damon.

Vicki proceeded to scowl at me. "Don't worry, I'm leaving. Tyler's waiting for me. He's actually fun now that he no longer has to deal with pouty bitches."

"Ya know, Vic..." I crossed my arms. "You make me want to count down the days until Halloween."

"What is that even suppose to mean?" she asked with a confused expression.

"Never mind, just go." I waved her off.

Glaring as she went, Vicki let the roof door slam behind her. Now, I was left to be stared down by two vampires who were almost two centuries old. Feeling intimidated and wanting to ease the tension, I spoke up first. "Um... I'm glad you both were able to find her. Matt will be happy." Not really getting a response, I continued. "I'm actually on break. I really should be getting back to The Grill."

Stefan seemed to jump on that opportunity. "That's a good idea, I'll walk you down."

"Now, now, Stefan," Damon said as he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "It would be rude not to introduce me to your friend first."

"Damon," Stefan began but was pushed back slightly as Damon moved forward.

Taking my hand in his, he kissed the top of it and gave me a charming smile. "I'm Damon, Stefan's older, better looking, and more stylish brother."

"Heather," I replied and gently pulled my hand from his grip.

"Well, look at this, two in two days." He looked over his shoulder to Stefan before grinning back at me. "First I meet the lovely Elena and now the enchanting Heather. My week just keeps getting better."

"Oh... you've met Elena already?" I knew it must have been yesterday when I dropped Stefan off. It made me wonder how long she actually stayed at the boarding house. Trying not to mentally berate Elena for the triangle that will soon begin, I focused back onto Damon.

"Yes, yesterday. She had a short tour of the boarding house," he replied and wiggled his eyebrows in his brothers direction.

"Ah... see that, brunettes have all the fun," I joked while giving Stefan a quick glance.

"See, I disagree." Damon lowered his voice and leaned in. "I have been known to have an extremely excellent time with some redheads."

Stefan glared at his brother. "Damon," he warned again in an angered tone.

Realizing things again were getting hostile, I tried to make my exit. "Well, I should be going." I gave Stefan a smile. "There is no need to walk me down. You can stay with your brother and continue with your fun."

As I turned to leave, Damon brushed my shoulder with his hand. I stopped and looked at the brothers waiting for an explanation. Both of their wide eyes made me fidget with my hands in uncertainty.

"What did you say?" Damon asked slowly in a hushed tone.

Confused, I furrowed my brows. "I said that you both could continue with your fun."

"That's not what you said." Damon pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "You said nanty narking."

"Nanty narking," I laughed. "I've never even heard that phrase before. Did you just make it up?"

"She doesn't know she's doing it." Stefan whispered to his brother.

 _Hmph, that was rude._ Letting out a small huff, I put my hands on my hips. "And what exactly am I doing?"

Shooting me an apologetic glance, Stefan at least had the sense to look ashamed for being overheard while Damon just looked contemplative.

Putting his charming smile back in place, Damon gave me somewhat of an answer. "Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about, Cherry," he said before turning to Stefan and giving him a pointed look. "Brother, we'll talk at home because someone has failed to give me the 411." With one last wink in my direction, he left through the roof door.

Gobsmacked, I realized he just called me Cherry. Ugh... of course he was the asshole from the supermarket. Burning holes at the door with my stare, I jumped in surprise when a leather jacket was suddenly placed over my shoulders.

"You were shivering," Stefan said and wrapped an arm around me.

Feeling the sensation of warmth and comfort, I smiled up at Stefan. "Thanks."

He returned the smile and rubbed my arm. "Let's get you back to work."

With one last look at the comet overhead, the two of us left the roof.

* * *

A/N: Not much Stefan in this chapter, sorry about that. But we do have Damon officially entering the story. Let the hijinks begin! Fav/Follow/Review. :D


	8. Fell For It

A/N: I can't stop watching CNN, it's been set on my TV since Tuesday. It's crazy, I cannot remember watching this much since the war. With that said, I apologize for the delay. This is a dialogue heavy chapter and I only did a quick edit so please excuse any mistakes, I'll be checking back over it later. Enjoy. :D

Musical Inspiration:

When You Were Young - by The Killers

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 8

Fell For It

~[^^^]~

Dragging my feet across the mint speckled flooring, I landed at my locker with a slump against the cool metal. My brief excitement over realizing today was Friday quickly dwindled with the thought of wanting to leave this school and crawl back into bed.

Among the mass conversations chatting away in the hall, my ears picked up the voices of Caroline and Bonnie. I lifted my head to give them some form of a morning greeting and was surprised to have a warm 'Starbucks' cup pushed into my hand. The scent of French vanilla wafted past my nose and I closed my eyes, purring in delight. When I opened my lids, I found a smirk playing on Caroline's face.

"You are now my favorite person in this universe," I said to her and eagerly brought the drink to my lips.

"I know," she replied with a hand on her hip. "I'm like Mystic Falls own Mother Teresa, spreading my goodwill and charity one person at a time."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at Caroline's comment before looking me over. "So, why do you look like the walking dead today?"

"Tired, weird dreams," I mumbled and took another sip of my cappuccino. "Where's Elena?"

"She was walking in with Stefan when I left her," Bonnie said and noticed the brief frown that appeared on Caroline's face.

 _Yup, I felt that sting to Care, you're not alone._

Bonnie gave her friend a sympathetic look and a slight rub on her arm.

Before I could think anymore on the subject of Stefan, a new face planted itself right in the middle of our circle. The large blue eyes of a blonde statuesque girl stared at me in anticipation and her rose painted lips pulled up into a smile that was worthy of a Justin Timberlake groupie. Though her high necked sweater was sleeveless, it still stood out that she was overdressed for the weather. She was thin but curvy and you could easily tell so by the tightness of her jeans. They looked like she had to lay down to zip them up. I recalled seeing her in the halls of Mystic Falls High, but had no idea who she was.

"Hi, it's Heather right?" she asked while not paying any mind to Bonnie's surprise or the fact that Caroline was glaring at her. "I'm Tina, Tina Fell. We have Home Economics and English together. And... oh, this one time, you gave me a dollar for the vending machine at lunch," she said and then let out a high pitched giggle. "How have you been?"

I tried not to outright cringe at her forceful introduction, but the image of Jessica Simpson attached itself to her immediately after she spoke. Hm, speaking of her, didn't she actually marry Timberlake? No wait, it was that other guy from the boy band. Nick Carter... no, maybe... Nick Lachey, that's it. Ha, she thought tuna was chicken.

"Heather." Bonnie smiled and jolted me from my mental quizzing.

"Oh." I shook my head. "Sorry... yes. I'm Heather. Um, I've been... good?" I replied unsure of how she expected me to answer and continued to wonder why she came over to talk. Looking to Caroline for help, she only scoffed and shrug her shoulders, giving me the impression that Tina normally did not associate with our group. "How have you been?" I politely returned.

Her stance relaxed and she scooted closer to my side as if it was a natural everyday occurrence to be close. "Dreadful," she enunciated dramatically. "That damn committee had me shoveling out bags of popcorn last night. It was so gross. I had butter stains all over my new Michael Kors' tunic."

"Bummer," I said amused, at the same time Caroline muttered out a sarcastic "Tragic."

"Yeah, it was horrible. I had to stand in one spot for a whole hour and watch nasty little children pester their parents." Tina made a disgusted face followed by a full body shiver.

"Tina, isn't your locker at the other end?" Bonnie asked with as much subtleness as she could muster.

"Yeah, shit," the blonde replied and stood straighter. "I have to get to homeroom." Tina gave me toothy grin and backed away. "Heather, I'll see you in Home Ec!" she bellowed out as she shuffled down the hall.

Bonnie tilted her head back and laughed. "Okay, what was that?"

I put my hand up in defense. "I have no idea. That's the first time I have ever spoken to her."

"Tina Fell has issues," Caroline said, clearly annoyed, taking a step forward to close the gap of our circle and forming a huddle. "From what I've heard..." She lowered her voice. "The whole reason she worked the comet festival last night was because she's on probation. She has so many hours of community service she has to fill because of a DUI. It's not like she was there by choice."

"Ah," I say, "party girl?"

"Very." Caroline nodded. "Anyway, the bell is going to ring so I better get going. Don't forget practice today," she called out as she walked away.

"Thanks again for the cappuccino!"

"No prob!" Caroline's faint yell lifted over the other voices from down the hall.

With her exit, the bell rung out and Bonnie looped her arm with mine. I let her drag my half awake body to homeroom and prepared for another long day of classes.

~[^^^]~

It is official. Tina Fell is a stage 4 clinger. At every turn, the girl has been by my side. I have not labeled her a stage 5 because she does not show signs of actually wanting to sleep with me. Although, for some odd reason, she did ask me my bra size.

Looking in the mirror, I tied one last knot on the pink bow that was wrapped around my ponytail. This will have to do because it's all the pink that Caroline was getting out of me. I tried to pick up my pace as I jogged out of the locker room. The whole reason I am running late is because I had to take the long way to the gym. When the last class of the day ended, I could see Tina hanging out in the hall looking for me. It took hiding behind some huge dude in a jersey to sneak past her.

Noticing a group of girl's by the bleachers, I could see this was where the cheerleaders were waiting. I tugged my shorts down a little lower for more coverage as I passed the football players.

"Looking good Bradbury!"

I didn't bother looking back to see who commented, but I did hear a grunt and a clash of tackled equipment. With an eye roll and a quick flush, I made it over to the grassy spot where the other girls were stretching.

"You're late," Caroline hissed. With a raised brow, she looked me over. Her eyes focused on the top of my head. "I guess that will have to do," she said begrudgingly before walking over and reprimanding another cheerleader for not stretching far enough.

"Don't mind her." Bonnie sprinted up next to me. "She always gets stressed out before a big game."

I bent down to touch my toes and laughed lightly as I heard Caroline berating Elena for also being late. "I can see that."

Turning my head, I can see that Bonnie is hugging Elena. Her excitement is evident as she says, "I didn't expect you to show up."

"Yes, yes, I'm here." Elena mock curtsied and laughed. "And since I came to endure our friendly blonde drill sergeant, I'm thinking you both can repay me by coming to dinner tonight at my house. Just us girls and Stefan," Elena explained with hopeful eyes and a bright smile.

"Er," Bonnie slipped out a hesitant nose.

I was in the same boat. I recalled watching that dinner scene and it did not go down well at all. Now, here I was getting an invite to monitor the uncomfortable evening up close.

"Please," Elena drew out with a pout. "Come on, a dinner with all of us will be fun. It will be just like old times." She finished and gave Bonnie a look I didn't quite understand.

"Did someone mention dinner?" Tina popped up out of nowhere, causing me to stagger backwards. _Jeez, this girl is worse than spam._ "I came to watch Heather's practice," she explained, shooting me a quick grin. "She mentioned she'd be busy with her science project tonight but if she's free now to go to dinner, I'd still like to hang out. Can I tag along?"

Stepping behind Tina, I shook my head violently at Elena.

"Oh," Elena said and bit her lip, "we were just trying to keep it small."

"I won't be any trouble, I swear. I will even bring dessert. Pleeeease." Tina begged, clapping her hands together in prayer form.

Shit. Elena's cracking under the pressure of her caring personality. 'Don't you dare!' I mouthed and pointed stiffly at her. I looked to Bonnie for reinforcement, but she was to busy covering her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Well I... I..." Elena began to stutter.

 _Stay strong!_

"I guess that shouldn't be a problem," Elena said defeated.

 _Dammit!_ Facepalm.

"Great." Tina beamed. "What time?"

"Um, Seven?" Elena looked questioningly between us and Bonnie gave her a nod.

Tina looked like she had just been given the keys to a new car. "Awesome. I'll see you girls tonight then. Heather..." She shifted to face me. "I'll be over on the bleachers watching. Good luck."

After Tina flashed me a quick thumbs up, she ran off to take her seat. I turned to my friend "What the hell, Elena?"

With a sigh, Elena bent down into a lunge and began to stretch. "She looked so excited, I couldn't be rude."

 _Freaking America's sweetheart_. I continued my own stretching before zeroing in on Bonnie. "You better be there now."

"Fine," she relented.

As Caroline went over the routine with us and Elena was singled out, I couldn't help feeling something was off. Yes, she was told to just observe for today and I remembered that she will eventually quit cheerleading, but I still felt like I was missing something. I casually watched as she walked away and put her focus on the football players.

 _Right, Stefan joined the team... and now, there goes my own focus._ Seriously, what is it about guys who play sports, it makes them instantly desirable. And... when you already have a crush you are trying to squash, it doesn't help at all.

Trying to wipe the dreamy smile off my face, I realized Bonnie caught me and tried to play it off. "So... dinner. I'm guessing she really wants you to like Stefan, heh?"

Bonnie stared at her Elena before bringing her gaze back to me. With a deep breath and contemplative look, she finally replied. "I don't think this dinner is for me." She went to get a water before I could question her further.

~[^^^]~

Seven o'clock rolled around and here I was helping to set the table at Elena's. Bonnie had arrived earlier and complained about the weird psychic witchy thing she had going on. It made me want to shake the girl and yell at her to relax because, in a few months time, she was going to be the freaking Dumbledore of Mystic Falls.

Stefan arrived shortly after and was now bringing out the drinks. As he passed me, our arms swiped and he gave me a crooked smile which I easily returned.

"You look nice," he said, resting his hands on the top of the chair next to me.

I looked down at myself. I wasn't wearing anything particularly glamorous, but I'm not ashamed to admit I may have spent a little extra time on my hair. "Thanks, you too," I said. Who was I kidding... he always looked nice.

"We can probably sit, maybe Tina decided not to come." Just as the words left my mouth, the doorbell rang. I should have knocked on wood. Taking my seat anyway, I heard Tina's voice echo through the house that she 'brought cupcakes and Vino'. _That's some combo_. What surprised me was that Stefan sped out of the room after she walked into the dining room.

"Which way to the kitchen?" The blonde asked.

"Right through there." I pointed to the door that Bonnie was coming out of.

"Great." She slid off her jacket with one hand and held onto a bag with the other. "I'll just put these in there and pour myself a drink."

While Bonnie slid into the space next to me, I could hear Stefan and Elena talking to someone. To my surprise, Damon suddenly walked into the room followed by the pair. Anyone could see that Stefan was not happy. Frankly, I expected this, but not until much later in the evening.

"Ladies." Damon greeted with a flirty smile.

I waited for our friend, the cheerleading captain, to make her presence known, but I quickly realized she was not here. "Um... where's Carloline?"

Elena's sheepish expression did not go unnoticed as she sat down. "I sorta forgot to mention it to her. She's probably busy with ironing out the details for the game tomorrow anyway."

Wait, wait, wait. Caroline is supposed to be here with Damon, instead Damon came with Tina. How the hell did that happen? Through my shock, I almost didn't notice Stefan taking the other open seat next to me. Almost.

"Stefan," Tina called out, "would you mind if I sat there? I was hoping to be next to Heather."

I grabbed his wrist for dear life to hold him in place. I heard him chuckle under his breath as he released my hand, but it was followed by a sigh. He then pulled out the chair in a gentlemanly fashion for the clingy blonde. Seriously, him and Elena are to much alike.

Looking between the two of them, I just realized their progression so far has been slow. Neither one has said anything about being a Stelena yet. Hm.

Tina sat down with a triumphant smile and Stefan took a seat next to Elena. Dinner commenced and the silence was deafening. Aside from someone occasionally asking for a certain food to be passed, the only thing that would be heard was the clinging of silverware and swallowing of food.

"Well, this isn't awkward or anything. Even Vegas newlyweds, who only know each other's first name, have better conversation than this."

Leave it to Damon to point out the obvious with such pizzazz. Stefan shot a glare at his brother while Elena took the initiative.

"Your right, this is silly." She brought her attention to Stefan. "Congrats on making the football team."

Stefan nodded his head. "Thanks."

"You're on the team now?" Tina jumped in. "That's so cool. God knows we need someone with some talent, our team blows."

"Of course he got on the team. My brother is a whiz at getting his hands on the ball." Damon said with a head tilt and a sarcastic tone. "In fact, he's so good, he can steal it right out from underneath you, without you even noticing. Ain't that right Stef?"

"You know how it is Damon, if you really want the ball... then you have to get there first."

I looked between the brothers who were clearly not talking about football. Well, things just took a turn to the dark side.

"Didn't you date the safety?" Tina interrupted while looking at me. I am sure my face took on a look that relayed I had no idea what she was talking about, so she elaborated. "Tyler, he plays safety. Didn't you two date?"

I inwardly groaned. "So I've been told."

"In fact," Tina continued, "didn't all three of you girls date someone on the football team?"

Elena looked about as uncomfortable as I did. She gave a simple 'yes' before taking a long sip of her soda while Bonnie gave a quick nod. I knew Elena had dated Matt, but Bonnie's answer surprised me.

"Who did you date on the football team?" I asked her.

Bonnie swished her pasta around her plate before sighing. "Jason Dean, freshman year."

The silence rattled on again before Elena took back the position of host.

"Heather," she said, "you did great at cheerleading today. It was like you spent no time away from it. It came so natural to you and you worked well with everyone. It's making me look forward to homecoming and then the dance. Last year we had such a good time at it," she finished and stared over her lashes at Bonnie.

"Right," Bonnie continued, almost robotically, "we all had a lot of fun. You and Elena even coordinated your outfits together."

I studied Elena trying to figure out where she was going with this. To my knowledge the show didn't have a homecoming dance.

Taking the lead from Bonnie, Elena smiled at the nostalgia. "Caroline had pitched the idea of a floral theme to the decoration committee and they ran with it. You and I got the same rose print dress in different colors," she said wistfully, "I'll show you the pictures after dinner."

"Weren't you the one who beat Heather out for homecoming queen?" Tina asked innocently, but her face gave away to ulterior motives.

"It was a close vote," Elena replied with a hint of irritation, "we were both just happy to have been nominated." She paused with a smile. "We had a blast dancing around and taking turns with the crown. We've shared everything since we were little."

All eyes were on me and it was making me extremely uncomfortable. What was I suppose to say, it's not like I had any memory of that. As I fidgeted under their scrutiny, I was relieved once Damon came in for the save.

"So, what you are saying... is that you two were the Paris and Nicole of the school. I'd be a bit weary of that. We all know how that ended."

"Damon," Stefan said, clearly annoyed, "I think Elena is just trying to fill Heather in on things she can no longer recall."

"Ya know, my memory gets a little fuzzy sometimes too, let's give them one of our stories. What do you think? Should we go with the family friendly version or the WikiLeaks one?" Damon questioned his brother with a smirk.

The tension could be cut with a knife as everyone at the table was bewildered by what was going on with the Salvatore brothers. Their animosity towards one another was stronger then I thought it would be.

"Just so you know," Tina whispered to me, breaking the quiet, "if I was at homecoming, I totally would have voted for you."

"Thanks?" I replied, bewildered with what else to answer with. Elena broke the tension between the brothers when she asked Stefan about his amazing memory for dates. Just as on the show, he had impressed the history class earlier with his year duel with Tanner. I stifled a yawn and tried to pay attention.

"Hey." Bonnie gave me a slight nudge. "Are you having trouble sleeping? Is it the dreams you mentioned?" she asked in a low voice.

I gave her a nod of my head. "The dreams keep waking me up. They are just so odd and vivid. They're not scary or anything, it's actually kinda silly," I said and Bonnie gave me a look to continue, "they're about this young girl and she's almost always with two boys. If she's not getting punished from her horrid mother, she spending time with them. They are always in an orchard climbing trees or playing inside this old cabin in the woods."

Metal hitting porcelain made me jerk my head in the direction of the sound.

"Sorry about that," Stefan said and looked embarrassingly at Elena, "it looks like I got sauce on me." He laughed and plucked a buried spoon out of a bowl. "I'll just go wash this off my shirt," he said and stood, leaving for the bathroom.

"I guess we are ready for coffee and dessert," Elena announced and began to clear the table.

Bonnie rose from her chair to help, but not before patting me on the back. "Maybe you will sleep better tonight and if you don't, at least you get to sleep in tomorrow." She smiled and grabbed her plate.

Gathering my own set of dishes, I followed her into the kitchen and caught a devious smile from Damon as I passed. _Yeah, I still don't trust that guy._ Once everything was put in the dishwasher and the coffee brewed, Tina opened the box she brought from the bakery.

"Heather you have to check these out." She waved me over. "I asked around and I know you like pink." She grinned. "See... it's like it was destiny for us to become friends, the ginger and the blonde. White and red make pink." She ended with a giggle.

"Heh, yeah." I took a step away. "How about that."

Trying to get as much distance between myself and Tina, I took a mug of coffee and left for the living room. The group followed suit and each found their own spot in the room. Grabbing a seat on the end of the tan couch, Elena, true to her word, placed herself next to me with a big photo album in hand.

As Elena continued to prattle on page after page, I couldn't help but stare at Tina practically sitting on Damon's lap. The reason for her sleeveless turtleneck became abundantly clear. What happened with Caroline? Finally, I had to ask.

"So... Tina, how did you and Damon meet?"

"Actually, I'm curious of that as well." Stefan inched forward in his seat.

Tina's smile grew as she looked at Damon. "It was the sweetest thing. He bought me a Coffee at Mainline while I was nursing a serious hangover after The Falls' party."

Damon gave the group a shrug and a smile. "Two sugars, no cream."

"It's been hard to separate us since." Tina licked her lips and eyed him eagerly. "He definitely has got some skills."

"Well, I don't like to brag." He responded with a classic Damon smirk.

Mainline, that was the place Bonnie and Caroline were suppose to go to after the party. Instead, they came to The Grill to see me. Frick. Damon never got to meet Caroline because she wasn't there. Me being here screwed up sexy Daroline time. _I'm so so sorry Caroline._

"Anyway..." Elena went back to her album. "This one is one of my favorites." She pointed at a picture of me on a stage sitting behind a piano. "It was our 8th grade talent show. You did such a amazing rendition of 'When you were young'. The whole crowd got into it." Looking at me with hopeful eyes, she placed the album to her side. "I had Jeremy setup his old keyboard." She gestured to the corner of the room where it stood. "I think you should give it a try."

Laughing, I shook my head. "Listen, I'm pretty sure the only time I can play that song is on Guitar Hero."

"Please, just try," she insisted.

I noticed once again all focus was on me. "Elena, I can't play piano. There's no point." I knew for a fact I couldn't play. I never played an instrument in my life. I was not about to make myself look like an idiot.

"If you just sit down in front of it and place your fingers on the keys, it may spark a memory. You might surprise yourself," Elena said placing her hand on mine to help me from my seat.

I quickly pulled my hand away. Is this what tonight was about? She was hoping to jog my memories? I looked to Bonnie for some type of clarity and she quickly looked down at her lap, confirming my suspicions. A glance at Stefan told me he was sympathetic to my situation. Abruptly standing, I placed my mug on the end table. "I should be going." Looking down at Elena, I plastered a fake smile on my face. "Thank you for dinner." Without another word, I grabbed my purse and left the house.

"Heather, wait up," Stefan called out, coming to my side, "please don't be upset with your friends."

"They need to accept me as I am. I'm sorry they lost the girl they used to know. I'm sorry this transition has been difficult on them, but I am not the girl they think I am." I sped out and tried to keep the emotion out of my voice, even if I was failing horribly. "She's gone, she's not coming back. I'm not her."

Stefan wrapped his hands around my arms to calm me. "Elena misses you and has noticed the distance between you both. She feels responsible for all this and she's just hoping to have her best friend back," he said, looking me in the eyes to stress his point, "I think everyone feels that if you were to get your memories back, it would help them know where they stand in your life."

"And if this is it? If what you see, is what you get?" I asked.

"No matter what version of you I get, I will always be grateful to have you in my life." Stefan pulled me into a hug and rested his chin on my head. "And I know Elena will eventually accept things as long as she has you too."

Feeling his warmth and accepting his comfort, I never felt more content than I did right now. I didn't want to move. I didn't want to back away. I just wanted to prolong this moment. Unfortunately, my mind did not let me enjoy it for long as the nagging question that I had been pushing down floated it's way to the top. How much longer do I have before Elena and Stefan become a couple?

* * *

A/N: I swear, I wrote this chapter so many times. The dialogue was so tricky because everyone at that dinner table had different motives for being there. I hope I was able to convey that and I hope on some level you all have an idea as to what that was.

So... Tina Fell, anyone want to guess what's up with her? Follow/Fav/Review :D


	9. Game Of Truths

A/N: Passes pink cupcake to lostfeather1 for her correct call on Tina. :D

Also, sorry for the long gap in updates, the holidays came and plus I switched offices. So yeah… I suck and I promise to be more timely. :D

Musical Inspiration:

Smells Like Teen Spirit Cover by Malia J.

(Link updated in profile. Playlist in order of each chapter I listen to when I write it.)

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 9

Game Of Truths

~[^^^]~

Crossing the school's parking lot with Robert by my side, I take in the enthusiasm around me. Parents lingered near the bleachers while their teenage children broke off into small groups, sneaking cigarettes and taking sips of hidden booze. Maroon colored shirts overwhelmed the field and the call of 'Go Timberwolves' echoed between the crowd.

When I think back about my high school years I realize I was never one for school spirit. Sure I went to the occasional event and participated in spirit night, but it was never like this. This was just all so picturesque, staged to be the crème de la crème of the high school experience. Maybe it was because back then, I was to into my boyfriend... the school bad boy, to notice. Phil was never one for sports unless it was hockey, so being at a football game was a big 'no'. Now, I actually find a small part of myself is curious to see what all the fuss was about. I dare say, even at the cost of wearing a cheerleading uniform. It did feel a little treasonous though that I was trading in my old school's blue falcons for maroon timberwolves.

"Honey, are you even listening to me?" Robert stopped in the middle of the field.

"Of course." I totally wasn't listening but I knew I had a 50/50 chance of guessing this right. All Robert talked about was his love of cars or work and since we left our jobs only an hour ago, I will go with option B. "You were talking about The Grill."

"Yes," _Nailed it._ "Specifically about Sarah," he said and handed me my duffel bag, "I wanted to know what you thought of her?"

Sarah, right, the Mystic Grill manager who was back after spending a month in Georgia. "She seemed nice enough." I shrugged and my eyes zeroed in on his unzipped jacket. Without asking, I stood in front of him and pulled the zipper back up to his neck. It was all I could do to cover that hideous piece of clothing he wore underneath it. "Why do you ask?"

Swatting my hands away, Robert took a step backwards. "Will you stop that." He huffed. "I was hoping you could give her some extra help when she needs it. She's going through a rough time right now with her ailing father."

"Sure thing." I nodded and noticed Elena making her way over to us, surprisingly in uniform.

"Thanks, Sweetheart, I appreciate it." He gave me a quick peck on the cheek and smiled in acknowledgement to Elena. "I'm gonna go find a good spot to watch." He raised his fist and smirked before walking off. "Go team!"

"Keep that jacket zipped up!" I yelled out to his retreating back.

Elena placed herself at my side and a giggle slipped from her lips. "Cheer dad shirt?"

"It's awful." I shook my head embarrassed. "It even has little megaphones on it."

"He is overly fond of that shirt," she said and her eyes turned in the direction Robert went before looking back at me. "Just wait until you see him imitating the halftime dance in the stands." Elena laughed at the horrified look on my face. "Don't worry, it usually takes him a few games before he gets it down pat."

"Phew." I awkwardly made an attempt to be dramatic and swiped my hand across my forehead.

Elena smiled and seemed to look everywhere else but at me. After everything that went down last night I wasn't exactly sure what to say to her. I could tell she was in the same boat. Our connection to each other was mildly friendly at best and now, I didn't know where we stood.

"So... I see you're in uniform," I said trying to change the atmosphere and maybe dig for a little information. I was about 99% sure this would have been the episode that she quit cheerleading. "I kinda got the impression from Bonnie that you weren't sure if you were gonna stay on the squad."

"Yeah." She suddenly became apprehensive. "I just figured that it would be a great way for all of us to spend time together." Pausing, she took a deep breath. "I want you to know that I'm sorry about last night, Heather. I didn't mean to push you or make you feel out of place. I just..." She swallowed and cleared her throat of any cracking. "I just miss you. I've lost so much and I refuse to add you to that list of casualties."

In some weird parallel, I understood where she was coming from. In a way, she was doing the same thing I was, fighting as hard as she could to get her old life back. I really have been distancing myself more from her than anyone else. It's mainly because the girl is a ticking time bomb. With each number of the countdown came a new catastrophe.

Sighing, I decided to do something very un-Heather like, I reached over and pulled her into a hug. I could tell she needed it. "It's okay Elena. I get it." I felt her hold onto me tighten. "Clean slate."

"Thank you," she said and let go of me, "I'm just hoping you can give me time to be your friend again. I know this all hasn't been easy on you and I want you to know I am here for you. We should be able to share and tell each other anything. So please..." She smiled and held my hands. "Be open with me."

Realizing I have gone over my limit of girl time touchy feelyness, I gently pulled my hands back. "Sure." _As much as I can be._ Which in my case, meant there really was a lot I couldn't share. Looking at her now, I could see she was hopeful that our friendship would rekindle its... _Wait. Hold the pickles._ A gleam of light around her neck caught my attention. "That's a pretty necklace." I pointed at the very familiar silver locket with a red stone.

Elena pinched the pendent between her fingers and smiled. "Thanks, I just got it."

Did this mean what I think it meant? My heart started to beat faster. "Oh... where?"

She bit her lip and looked over my shoulder. "Just a gift from a friend," she said and took a step to her right, "I better go, I promised Caroline I would help finish the sign." Backing away, she pointed to something behind me. "I think someone wants to talk to you."

Turning around I found Stefan jogging his way over to me. When I looked back for Elena, she was gone.

"There you are, I was looking for you," Stefan said and gave me a smile that could make any girl swoon. Despite that the urge to fan myself, all I wanted to do at this very moment was interrogate him on if him and Elena were together.

Trying to play it cool, I attempted to be as nonchalant as possible."You found me."

Giving me a once over, he slid the strap of my bag off my shoulder and held it for me in a gentlemanly fashion. "Your uniform suits you."

"You think so?" I asked unsure, "I'm kinda feeling like my IQ dropped a bit."

"Nah." He shook his head. "Consider it raising the bar with beauty and brains." He laughed at the look on my face that clearly conveyed I thought his line was pretty smooth. "Was that Elena I saw you talking to?" he questioned, gesturing toward the cheerleaders.

"Yup." I nodded. "She apologized for last night and we made up." He seemed happy by my response and I thought I also saw a flicker of relief on his face. That was enough to bring back my focus onto the answer I longed to know, even if I was not looking forward to how it would make me feel. Hoping I would find out the truth, I tried to ease into it. "I commented on her pretty necklace."

"Oh... that reminds me," he said and reached his hand around to the back pocket of his jeans. When he brought his hand forth, he was holding a velvet bag. "This is for you."

Surprised, I took it from him and emptied it into my own outstretched palm. A smile gasp escaped me as I inspected the piece of jewelry I was given. It was a bracelet pieced together with beautifully crafted wooden beads, each smoothed and glossed to perfection. In the center, lie a rectangular wooden charm that formed a small box and had intricate little flowers burned into it. I couldn't help but stare at it in awe.

"I know you never take off your necklace, and I promised that you would get to see the results of my whittling," he said, his voice breaking me from my daze.

"You made this?" I stared at him in shock. "It's amazing. Forget football, we need to get you your own spot on QVC selling jewelry."

He laughed and shook his head. "I don't know about that, this one," he said, locking his eyes with mine, "it's one of a kind. Carved to be unique to compliment the girl is was made for."

Swallowing hard, I tried to find my voice."Thank you." Wanting to gain back my composure, I once again concentrated on the bracelet. After he helped me with the clasp, I took a closer look. A smile formed on my lips when a lovely floral smell radiated from the charm. "Verbena Bonariensis," I whispered to myself. _Vervain_. I was touched he thought to make sure I was protected.

"Yo, Salvatore!" A voice yelled, making Stefan and I seek it out. What we found, was a disgruntled looking Tyler. "The rally is starting, Coach wants us all in front of the stage…and we're all waiting on you, Your Highness."

An annoyed expression took over Stefan's features as he handed me back my duffel bag.

Turning my back from Tyler's hardened gaze, I put my hand on Stefan's. "I hope Tyler hasn't been giving you a hard time."

"I don't think he likes me very much," he explained, "I can handle him though."

"You sure? He looks like he's in rabid dog mode tonight." _Ha-ha, werewolf joke._

"Yeah, but l better get back over to the team, I wouldn't want to miss the coach's 'go, fight, win' speech." He held up his hands in mock triumph as he backed away. "I'll see you over there."

"I'll shake my pom poms for ya," I said raising my voice to make sure he heard, only realizing after the fact that I could have whispered and had the same effect. It caused him to laugh and for a few others around me to smirk. Noticing the looks I was getting, I started to wonder if what I said could be construed as perverted.

...

The sky had darkened and the crowd cheered as they listened to the band belt out the school's fight song. Everyone stood in jumpy anticipation as they listened to the coach assure us that we had a winning team this year. As smoke wafted past me, I flinched at the large flames a short distance away. The fire eating away at the dummy that was tied to a pike made me flinch. The whole idea was so barbaric. In an unrealistic panic, I found myself taking a step back. It took a nudge from Caroline to bring me out of my fixation.

"This is fun, right?" she asked and smiled before letting out another holler along with the rest of the spectators.

Without thought, I felt the corner of my mouth quirk upward. Caroline was completely in her element. She truly was made for this environment of enthusiasm and excitement. Scanning those around me, I couldn't help but join in their intoxicating elation.

As promised, the moment Tanner spoke of his talented new quarterback, I raised up my black and maroon pompoms in the air and shook them like I just didn't care. I may have let out a few loud whoops too that caused Stefan to grin.

Through the plastic strands that waved in the wind, I caught a glimpse of a concerned Bonnie who did not seem to be following the pattern of excitement. When I followed her view, my stomach sunk. She was watching Elena's reaction. Elena, the girl who waved her pompoms wildly and had her eyes glued to Stefan.

With the previous moment Stefan and I shared, my brain had said 'Elena who?' Now, that both of them were back in my eyesight, my mind caught up. _Oh, that Elena._

Her lingering gaze didn't last long though as she went running out of the crowd. In fact, a lot of the crowd was breaking away into a small group. It wasn't until I heard the yelling from behind that I realized what was happening. The Tyler and Jeremy fight. The triangle strengthens. Seeing that the newest quarterback was also MIA, I recalled that Stefan once again went to save the day.

Tanner continued on with his speech as though half of the crowd didn't wander away. As rude as the guy was, I still felt bad for the teacher/coach. His contract would be over before the night's end. It made me wonder what show he would move onto. If they ever made a remake of 'House' he'd make a great cocky doctor.

With the fight ended and the rally over, Caroline corralled all the cheerleaders to the field where the sign was waiting. As we prepared, I heard my name called, but didn't know which way it was coming from among all the voices.

"Heather, your dad's waving," Bonnie pointed and giggled as she stood next to me.

Lining up my sight with her finger, I found Robert was easy spot in the bleachers . "Oh, no." Dread filled me, the 'Cheer Dad' shirt was on full display.

Bonnie bumped me in the shoulder as she gave me a toothy smile."Come on, it's not that bad."

I gave her an 'are you kidding me?' face. "Bonnie, the shirt is pink… wait, what's he doing now?"

My witch friend burst into a whole new set of giggles. "I believe he is pointing you out to the people around him and letting them know you are his daughter… and now he's giving you a thumbs up."

"I'm burning that shirt when we get home," I grumbled out just as Elena called Bonnie to her side.

"Tiki," Caroline's voice barked out, "stop flirting with the other team!"

"Care, have you SEEN them? Why don't we have any yummy guys in this school?" the cheerleader responded.

I took a gander at the opposing team who were passing us to get to their side of the field. The Covington High Owls paced the length of the sidelines dressed in black and gold. _Holy moly._ I had to admit, Tiki was spot on… the guys were good looking. One of them winked at me as he passed and I couldn't help but sway and slip out a bumbled 'hehehe'. Even Caroline stopped her organizing to strike a pose and send a flirty smile. One perk to the Vampire Diaries world… hot actors.

Bonnie made her way back to my side just as the announcer worked up the crowd for the football players entrance.

"Everything okay with Elena?" I asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "She wanted to talk about something to do with Stefan." She looked contemplative as she took her cheerleader stance. "Ya know, I wasn't sure about him at first but I can see now that he genuinely is a nice guy."

I couldn't take it anymore, I had to ask and if anyone would know it would be Bonnie. "Are they together?"

"What? No," she said with certainty.

"Are you sure about that?"

"If they were together, don't you think they would tell us? Especially Elena, we're her closest friends," she assured me.

I shrugged. "I guess."

Bonnie put her pompoms forward. "Come on... let's entertain the masses."

Following her lead, I lined up my own pompoms and we all cheered as the guys ran though the sign and down the line.

…

By the time the team had gone to the locker rooms to change, the cheer squad was on the sidelines preparing for kickoff. Caroline was busy shuffling through her things and shouting out formations she planned.

"Where is it?" She growled as she empty the contents of her duffel bag onto the ground. Shifting the items around, she became more frantic.

Dashing over to her, I put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "Caroline, what's wrong?"

"It's the CD, the CD with our halftime music. I can't find it anywhere." She continued to sweep her rolled up sweatshirt outward in hopes of it falling out. "Unless…" she bit her lip in thought. "Unless it's in the locker room." She pivoted toward me with a large smile. "Heather, my wonderful friend…"

I put my hand up to stop her. "I'll go look."

"You're a lifesaver. Hurry back."

Nodding, I made my way across the field and headed between the buildings. One of the roof lights flickered while I walked the darkened path. Though I could hear the crowd cheering in the background, the silence that surrounded me made even the smallest sound echo. Trying to shake off the eerie vibe that ran through me, I quickened my pace… until I heard what sounded like a rock skirting across the ground.

"Hello?" I said spinning to look behind me. Not getting a response, I squinted to make out anyone in the dark and tried again. "Hello?"

Yup, now I was freaking out. _Why didn't I use the buddy system?_ I turned to get back on my original course, but screamed when a person planted themself right in front of me.

"Hey Heather."

Clutching my chest to seize the panic that had build. I scowled at the blonde in my sights. "Hello Tina." I managed to grit out.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" She chuckled.

"You caught me by surprise," I admitted. Catching my breath and taking in her attire, I was shocked to see her wearing the same top I had on last night at dinner. "Is that my top?"

"No silly." She waved her hand like I was the crazy one. "I bought this today after seeing how good it looked on you last night. It was so hard to find too. I was on the internet for like two hours searching until I was able to find the store. Would you believe I had to drive three towns over to get it?" She said and looked down at her phone. "I only got back about 20 minutes ago and came straight here. I didn't want to miss your cheering. After the game I thought we could go out for drinks."

Okay, it's like I have somehow jumped into the movie 'single white female' at this level. We have reached a new form of creepiness. This girl had so many red flags popping up that I had to question if this was her normal behavior. Trying to be gentle and make my intentions clear, I spoke slowly. "Tina, I think that's a bad idea. I feel like you and I are not a good friendship match." Trying to walk around her, I was stopped abruptly when she wrapped a hand around my arm.

"That's ridiculous, of course we are. We like the same things. You like to cheer, I like to watch you cheer. You work at the grill, that's my favorite place to eat. You like pink, me too."

"I really need to go Tina, the rest of the squad is expecting me," I said hoping she would catch my drift that I would have someone looking for me soon. Instead her fingers clutched harder.

"But we are meant to be best friends. We HAVE to be best friends."

Feeling her nails digging into my skin, I let out a small hiss of pain. Still I tried to stay calm, but I was quickly losing patience and my fight or flight arrow was vastly approaching fight. "You need to learn boundaries and you - are - hurting - me," I enunciated for effect. Before I could grip her wrist, someone was doing it for me.

"Tina dear, I think you should give Cherry here some space."

The blonde quickly let go and took a step back. "I'm sorry." She looked at Damon with panicked eyes before seemly being apologetic towards me.

Damon gave her a pat on the head. "Good girl," he said causing her to beam at him.

I scoffed at her need for approval. Watching how the two of them behaved turned my stomach and made me glad I nipped the Tina Fell situation in the bud. Hopefully she takes my words to heart. "Right, well… I need to get something from the locker room and then get back to my squad… so, um, bye."

Noticing Damon whispering into Tina's ear as I jogged around the corner, I rolled my eyes. Either that girl is a psycho or he has seriously screwed up his compulsion. Seeing the light above the locker room door in the distance, I let out a sigh of relief and ran faster.

"Heather wait!" Damon's voice called out.

Jerking to a sudden stop at my name being called, I found myself sliding backward as my foot slipped. Falling on the ground into a big puddle, I cursed under my breath. My uniform is soaked and Caroline is going to kill me. Lifting my hands to eye level, my body froze.

Red, my hands were covered in thick red. Flashbacks of my mishap with the juice replayed in my head, only this time, I knew it wasn't tomato juice I was staring at. Looking down to my side, I screamed and scuttled backwards.

Tanner's dead body lay next to me, and his cold eyes stared into mine, permanently etched in a fearful gaze. His throat had been torn out and his chest lay still. It would never expand with his breath again.

Feeling myself begin to hyperventilate, I tried to ease my mind. None of this is real, they're just characters. It's not real. It's not real. I continued the mental chant. But deep down, I knew it was.

I had made excuses over and over again to distance myself from this place and the things that happened here. Though I might be in some type of alternate reality world, this world is real to the people in it. They are just regular human beings going on about their lives. Mr. Tanner could have had a family for all I know, someone's brother, son, or even father.

My panic increased and I couldn't catch a breath. I could have stopped this, I knew it was going to happen and did nothing. Here I sit, covered in this man's blood, not fake made for movies blood, real blood... his blood... and it's all my fault.

"Jesus, Tanner." A horrified voice said.

I felt dizziness taking over my senses and someone helping me up. I looked into the baby blue eyes of Matt Donovan as he laid his hands on my face. "Breath, you gotta breath, Heather."

Sucking in a large gulp of air, my lungs relaxed as they swelled with oxygen. I could vaguely hear Matt yelling for someone to call 911 as I tried to get my breathing under control.

I'm not sure how much time had passed since the police showed up. After pulling me away from Tanner, Matt quickly passed me over to Robert who I held onto like he was my lifeline. He was the strongest connection I had in this place and all I wanted at the moment was to feel safe. He continued to hold me and rub my back as I gave the police officer one word answers to his questions.

When the cops finished with me, I told Robert I just wanted to go home. Wrapping his jacket around me, he picked me up bridal style and started in the direction towards his car.

Looking over his shoulder, I stared at Bonnie as she wiped her tears away and her friends tried to calm her fears. Next, my eyes moved to Stefan. He watched me intensely as the gap between us widened and I was grateful he gave me the space I needed right now. Lastly, I glanced at Damon who stood by himself looking back at me with surprisingly remorseful eyes.

…

Sitting on my bed, I clutched my blanket around me tighter. After what seemed like my third shower in a row I was unable to get my hands or feet warm. At least now though, I finally felt clean enough to wear my pajamas. I didn't want to think about the blood anymore.

Robert said he thought I was in shock and has been checking on me multiple times. I don't want to be a hassle, but secretly, I think he likes how much I am dependent on him right now.

Another ding of my phone made me look down. It was another text that would go unanswered. The only person I have replied to so far has been Bonnie. It was easier to concentrate on her than worry about myself. I really did not want to think on my experience anymore. Bonnie had told me about the numbers matching up tonight. To be honest, I completely forgot that had happened.

Laying my head back down on my pillow, I made wishes of feeling normal again. Just to feel that sense of familiarity that I missed to much. I wondered what my friends back home were doing.

Picking up my phone, I decided to try and see if a version of them were in this world. I opened up a social media app and did a search. Crossing my fingers when her name popped up, I clicked ahead. I widened my eyes and smiled in surprise as I saw Crystal's profile picture on my screen. _No way!_ It was almost impossible to think that my BFF was accessible.

Seeing Phil on her list of friends, I quickly clicked on his picture. Most of the information was the same, Phillip Monroe… Mays Landing, N.J. Status message… "Don't forget, party this Saturday at the Cape."

Feeling the nostalgia of my old life, I made a decision and pulled up my text box.

 **Bonnie, I need a favor.**

* * *

A/N: Heather has a new perspective, I wonder how this will affect her.

To Damon fans, sorry he didn't get much time in this chapter but have no fear... he makes a big impact in the next.


	10. Missing What You Never Had

A/N: This is a really long chapter, hence why it took longer than expected. Enjoy :D

Musical Inspiration:

Misguided Ghosts by Paramore

Mary Jane's Last Dance by Tom Petty

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Missing What You Never Had

Chapter 10

~[^^^]~

Leaning over the counter, I studied the squiggly lines that lay before me. Watching the man's finger following the pattern across the paper, I stopped briefly when I heard the chime of my phone. I pulled it out of my pocket while a twanged voice faded into the background. Glancing at the screen, I smiled when I read the confirmed text.

 **I have you covered. If your dad calls, you're here with me till tomorrow.**

Thank the universe for Bonnie Bennett. The girl was an amazing friend.

Leaving this morning, with only a note to Robert, I made sure all my bases were covered. My faux dad had been a great source of support to me since the death of Tanner. In all actuality, I was grateful he handled me with kid gloves... it allowed me to deal with the guilt I felt. He gave me time off from work, which on this particular weekend, was working in my favor.

Aside from Bonnie, the 'Mystic Falls Gang' were none the wiser to my inner conflicts. If they noticed the distance I had put between myself and them, they didn't comment. I guess they too were giving me time to get over the shock of finding the dead teacher. Stefan though, did keep closer watch than normal.

"And this road will take you straight out to I-81 North. Ain't you got one of those fancy GPS's?" The gas station clerk asked as he lifted his eyes from the map in front of us.

I nodded while taking a gulp of the soda I had purchased. "Yeah, but it freezes up a lot."

"Well, this is the quickest way to get you where you're going. Just follow the signs once you pass the town's border." Pushing off the counter and folding the map up, the grey haired cashier squinted his eyes at me. "What's a young thing like you traveling all the way up the coast for?"

"Just visiting friends," I said and picked up my plastic bag of car goodies.

"Someone going on a field trip?" A voice that made my whole body freeze spoke behind me.

 _Frick, frick, frickity, frick. Psycho vamp._ Slowly turning around, my paranoid self tried not to look him directly in the eyes. Even though the wooden bracelet on my wrist should have kept me calm, I still feared he would compel me to be his breakfast. Maybe I should offer to buy him a bagel. "Damon... hi."

Reaching around me and laying some money on the counter, he quickly shoved his purchased lollipop in his mouth. "Mm, cherry."

I swallowed hard not knowing if he was referring to the flavor or me.

"I seem to have overheard that you're traveling," he said as he dipped his finger into my plastic bag of newly bought snacks and got a better look. "From the over amount of prepackaged pastries, it looks to be a long one."

 _What? So I have a thing for cinnamon Poptarts. Don't judge me._ "Just a simple day trip," I replied, hoping the answer would sate his curiosity and he'd leave.

The clerk let out an indignant scoff. "More like she will be traveling all day. This little lady is heading all the way up into Yankee country."

I turned and scowled at the man who had just given me directions. I know we weren't in a confessional box, but jeez... does privacy mean nothing anymore. He doesn't know if Damon is a serial killer or not, and in this case, he's the former.

Hearing a sigh, I focused back on Damon.

"Look, Cherry, I hate to do this to you but you are to reckless for your own good." He tilted his head and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. I flinched slightly but he didn't seem to mind. He focused on my eyes before speaking "You are going to drive home and spend your Saturday doing whatever it is normal 17-year-old girls do. Have fun, but most importantly, you will always make sure to keep yourself safe. You will not remember seeing me today and you will not leave Mystic Falls."

 _Aw, fudge._ He's trying to compel me. Attempting not to panic, I relied on my acting abilities to get me through this. Nodding and trying to seem a bit dazed, I said, "I will not leave Mystic Falls."

Oddly, he gave me a warm smile. As quickly as possible, I left and walked back out to my car.

Pulling away from the gas station, I wasn't sure which way to head. I had every intention of following through with my original plans. It was just a good thing he didn't know about my bracelet. I decided that heading towards my house was the safest bet, in case I was followed. When I finally turned down my street, I drove straight past my home.

Feeling I no longer would be caught, I took the path to the other side of town. Yes, it was inconvenient that I had to go the long way, but it would still lead me to my destination. I turned my music up and grinned as I past a sign that said 'Mystic Falls City Limit'.

~[^^^]~

The closer I drove to my hometown, the more memories of my old life flickered through my mind. A nervous knot settled in my stomach. I didn't know how things would go upon seeing the people who meant so much to me. My friends were like a second family. And Phil... well he was my first long-term boyfriend. Granted, things had cooled some in the duration of our relationship, but I had felt strongly for him. Our first meeting was like any other typical teenage romance.

...

Holding the hanger out in front of me, I scrunched my nose up at the item. "Lacy"

"Yeah?" my friend answered.

Laughing, I shook my head and turned towards the girl with matching brown eyes and hair... who happened to be named Lacey. "No, I meant lacy, as in to much lace. Look at this bra." I held up the garment. "It's to foofoo, right?"

Shrugging, Lacey took the bra from my hands. "I dunno, I kinda like that burlesque look." She pulled the hanger over her head and her fingertips gripped the fabric around her chest. "Look's good," she said as she imitated the mannerisms of Marilyn Monroe.

After nodding and smirking at her, I went back to the sale rack. "I'll stick to my boy short sets." As I shuffled through the undergarments, I realized how long we had spent in this store. I had promised my dad that I wouldn't be lingering in the mall till close. "Where's Crystal? She should have been back by now."

"She probably got sidetracked on her way to the little girls's room." Lacey called out from the rack beside me. "She better hurry though, I wanna get to the ice cream shop."

"Fudge ripple on a cone?" I asked teasingly.

"You know it." She gave me a serious look. *"With jimmies."

The sound of heavy footsteps and labored breathing caused the both of us to look towards the front of the store. The girl we were discussing came bounding towards us. Crystal, with her blonde straight hair fluttering with each running step, halted to a stop in front of us.

"Oh my God." Crystal panted. "You won't believe the guys I just scoped out."

I reached for my best friend's shoulder to help keep her upright. "Okay, just relax Cris."

"No, you don't understand." She shook her head. "I am talking majorly hot. I am so in love."

Giggling at Crystal's confession, I noticed it didn't take long to get Lacey's attention off of her shopping.

Arching an interested eyebrow, Lacey pointed at Crystal. "Spill."

"So, you know Tony Morgan from the debate team?" she questioned, waiting for us to nod in recollection. "Well... he is hanging out with a new group of guys, guys who will be joining our school this year since Armstrong West is closing. All very good looking, one in particular, I plan on taking to prom."

"Did you get his digits?" I asked.

"No, I didn't get the chance to speak to him, but... I did tell Tony that we would meet them next to the cookie stand in the food court. He said he would introduce his friends."

"Whoa, what about my ice cream?" Lacey asked and I think I saw her eye twitch.

"Aw, please Lace... just go with it. I will buy you a ice cream later." Not waiting for a response, the blonde took both of our arms and led us from the store. "Or maybe..." Crystal wiggled her eyebrows. "One of the new hotties will douse himself in chocolate sauce and whip cream for ya."

Laughing our way through the crowd and making innuendos the whole time, we finally reached our meeting location. Seeing the group of boys and awkwardly exchanging 'hellos', I noticed one in particular eyeing me up. He took the initiative and slid up next to me. "Hey, I'm Phil."

Phil definitely stood out from the others, the guy was a walking contradiction. Dressed in a preppy polo, his arms were laced with tattoos. He had dark brown 'I just got out of bed' hair, and chestnut eyes. His lightly stubbled face grinned at me as I continued to take in his appearance.

 _Shit. He's knows I am checking him out._ Quickly gazing elsewhere, I ducked my head with a smile. "Heather... I'm Heather."

"You go to Adam's High, right?"

"Yup." I nodded.

"Good." He smiled. "Now I have something to look forward to."

After some small chitchat, we exchanged numbers and all of us promised to meet up again before school started. By the time we exited the mall, I was practically skipping.

I nudged Crystal. "So... that guy you were talking to, Kevin... I think his name was, will he be riding in the limo with us to prom?"

She smiled and shook her head. "The guy I was interested in wasn't there. I think he skipped out early."

I frowned and hooked her arm with mine. "When we get back to school we can search him out."

"Yeah," Lacey joined in. "I bet we'll find him."

"Maybe." Crystal shrugged.

...

That was the start of me and Phil. The group of us had hung out again before school started and after that, we officially became a couple. Oddly enough, Lacey started dating Kevin that year while Crystal enjoyed playing the field.

Being away from them makes me wonder if they know I am missing. I'm also curious to see how these different versions of my friends will react to me.

~[^^^]~

Nervously, I straightened my dress of any wrinkles and stared at this realm's version of my 'real' family home. After checking into my hotel room, I had debated with myself on if I wanted to come here. I dressed to impress knowing my father would never take me seriously if I was in jeans.

My first stop, after I left the hotel, had actually been the nursing home. To my dismay, there was no Wilhelmina Sparks residing there. They had never even heard of her. The nurse Barb, who I had always been friendly with, still worked there... but she had no idea who I was.

Knowing the party was not till later, I decided to take this time to see if I could get information.

Straightening my shoulders, I marched up the brick pathway and rang the doorbell. Counting the seconds with each breath, I could hear faint footsteps making their way towards me from inside. With a shimmy of the knob, the door opened.

My father looked just as he always had... sandy parted hair, perfectly clean shaven, and attire that would put GQ to shame. The only indication that he wasn't working today would be the slight looseness of his Armani tie.

Giving me a critical eye, he paused for a moment before opening the front door wider. "Follow me and shut the door behind you." Without another word, he turned and left me lingering in the open doorway.

Confused, I stood there staring at his retreating back with my mouth open. _Does he know me?_ Scrambling to find out, I hurried past the threshold of my copycat house and let the door slam in my wake. It was unsettling to walk through the hall seeing objects I had become so accustomed to. It was more like the comfort of a dream until the moment when you realize you're actually asleep.

Entering my fathers office, I took note of the pictures scattered on his desk. Sadly, I can see the blonde strumpet he married is still in the picture. Searching for a photo of myself or step-brother, I found none. The shuffling of papers brought my attention back to my father.

He held out a manila envelope to me. "See that it get's there by 9 o'clock tonight."

Noticing him waiting for me to retrieve the package in his hands, I tried to understand exactly what was happening here. "Um, why are you giving me that?"

"Well, you're a courier aren't you? My secretary said she would be sending someone over."

"No." I shook my head.

Letting out an annoyed huff, my father dropped the envelope on his desk and took a seat. "Then what are you doing in my house? I don't have time for this."

Bummed out by the realization I was a stranger to him, I sighed. "I was looking for Mr. Perkins."

"You found him, now, what do you want?"

Taking a seat, before he could kick me out, I reached in my purse and pulled out a picture of my mother. Sliding it across to him, I waited while he picked it up. "I was wondering if you knew that woman," I said, gesturing to the photo.

"Donna," he said as his mouth formed a reminiscent smile. "I met her some years back. Why?"

"She's my mother and I am trying to find out some information about her."

"And why come to me for that?" he asked.

"Because she died, and I found one of your business cards in her things," I lied and hoped he would buy that excuse.

His face suddenly became sullen. "I'm sorry to hear that." He let out a long breath and gave me back the picture. "I became acquainted with Donna at a business convention. She was beautiful and could hold a conversation. I hit on her... this was of course before I was married." He smiled. "But, she gently let me know that she herself was happily married and a mother to boot. She mainly just wanted to acquire my services."

Leaning back in the chair, I tried to piece together what I had heard. "What would my mother need a lawyer for?"

His features went serious. "That, I can't divulge. Attorney client privilege."

Gobsmacked, I looked at him in surprise. "But, I told you... she's dead. Certainly that no longer applies."

"Look kid," he said, pissing me off with that condescending 'kid' title he always used with me. "I hate to put a road block in front of you but until I see a death certificate, I can't tell you anything."

Normally, I would argue and maneuver to get what I wanted but having lived with this man, I knew there was no getting around his answer. He was a stickler for rules. "If I fax over the proof..."

"I will send you everything I have on our business dealings," he said, finishing my question.

Slumping my shoulders, I settled into a morose position. This was not how I expected things to go. I looked to the stern father I had so many memories of and realized things didn't feel much different than any other time I was in front of him. _How sad it that?_ With knowledge of me or without, I was still treated the same as a stranger. "Do you have any kids?" I found myself asking out loud.

"No," he said not looking up from whatever document he began signing. "Never had the time." Taking a brief moment to look at me, his face went contemplative. "I thought I might have wanted them a few years ago. I had even told Donna that I felt like I missed out on that experience. I soon came to realize though that parenting would never be for me. Work and play, that's all I have room for."

I nodding knowing how true that was. It didn't surprise me that I was never really wanted. My father rarely spent time at home. If he wasn't at the firm, he was making trips to AC with my step-mother. Speaking of the blonde, it made me ponder where her son was. Maybe he ended up living with Georgia's ex-husband. I would bet that she only brought my step-brother into the fold to appease my father, who already had a child as well.

Knowing I couldn't get anymore info out of the man, I stood to take my exit. "Can I use your bathroom before I leave?"

"Sure, it's out towards the left and around the staircase." He pointed with his finger. "Are you going back home? Virginia, right?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "Tomorrow."

"Be careful getting back. And..." He sighed. "I'm sorry about your mom. She was a wonderful lady."

"Thanks," I said and left his office.

Instead of passing the staircase, I stopped before it and looked over my shoulder. I could still hear my father's pen scratching away on whatever document he was working on. With a sprint, I moved myself up the stairs towards my old room. Once there, I entered through the door to find white walls lined with rolls of decorative paper. A strangled grown vibrated through my throat.

She made my bedroom into a freaking gift wrapping room. _How pretentious can you get?_

Exiting before I could be caught, the oiled expression of the woman I came to loath stared back at me. It looks like Georgia commissioned another portrait of herself. _Gag._ Looking at the painting, it had my step-mother sprawled out on a chaise lounge. You could clearly tell she went for a dressed version of Rose from Titanic.

Feeling a flicker of evilness, I grinned as I took the pen from my purse. Walking up to the artwork, I wrote the words of truth along the cleavage edge of her painted dress. GOLD DIGGER.

Taking five steps back, I admired my work. From this point of view, it was untraceable. Only upon a closer look could someone make out the words. With a smile, I left the hall and went down the stairs to leave my old home behind.

~[^^^]~

This was it. This was the moment I have been siking myself up for since leaving Mystic Falls. I was about to see my old friends, well a version of them anyway. Outside the shore house, cars littered the street and bass vibrated through the windows. Passing a drunk couple who were in the middle of a sloppy kiss, I walked myself towards the front door.

Before I could knock, a sudden arm draped itself over my shoulders and hot breath met my ear.

"Someone's a little fibber."

 _Please tell me this is not happening._ My mortified face angled sideways to find a smirk and blue eyes staring back at me. "How, how did you find me?" I stuttered out.

Giving me a little squeeze, Damon began his monologue. "After sending you on your way, I decided to check-in since I knew daddy Bradbury would be working all day. Low and behold..." He put a hand to his mouth in mock surprise. "Little Heather, was not where she should have been."

I let out an unimpressed huff at his dramatics.

"After getting all the info I needed out of the gas station cashier, it wasn't hard to catch up to you. I was on you before you even left Virginia. And really, Cherry, stopping at that little museum in Delaware, how road trip cliche can you get?"

"I wanted to see the Fiji Merman," I mumbled out. Trying to gain what little distance I was given from his grip, I took a side step and tilted my head in bewilderment. "Why didn't you stop me and make me come back?"

"Curiosity." He shrugged. "I wanted to see what was so important in Jersey, of all places. Aside from that, you have a lot of explaining to do. I want answers on how you knew what compelling was since you so clearly knew to fake it."

Grimacing, I knew I was up a creek without a paddle. Before I could come up with something to say, the front door opened to reveal the replica of my best friend.

"Are you guys here for the party? Someone near the window said there were people at the door."

The sight of Crystal made me smile. Her blonde hair was pulled up on the sides and her glazed eyes let me know she was starting her drunken buzz early. Her magenta lips gave off a goofy smile as she waited for an answer.

"Yeah, I'm Heather, I'm a friend of Tony's. He said I should stop by." I knew Tony went to school out of state now, so my chances of him being here were slim. Damon once again gave me a little squeeze, reminding me of his presence. "Oh, and this is... my friend, Damon."

Crystal nodded and took a sip from her red cup. "Sure, come on in. The more the merrier," Turning, she left the door open for us.

Realizing Crystal just invited a vampire into her home, I tugged on Damon before he could enter. "Damon, these people... they mean a lot to me, can you please just be on your best behavior. I don't want anybody hurt."

"See, Cherry, there you go again, talking like you know more than you should and I'm waiting for answers."

"I'll explain later." I said hoping he would let it go for now. "Just... please be good."

"I'm holding you to that," he replied as we walked through the door. He removed his arm from my shoulder and grabbed a drink off some guy that was walking by. "I do love a good party." Seeing the pleading look on my face, he rolled his eyes and made a circle above his head with his finger. "Halo." With that, he strutted over to a crowd of girls.

I could faintly hear him asking some girl if she was legal. Shaking my head, I went off to search out my friends.

Noticing the red cups lined across the kitchen table, I stole one and found the keg in the corner. Filling up my drink, I moved from the kitchen only to be almost run over by a bunch of guys chasing someone.

"Whoa there, you alright?"

I grinned at the voice I knew so well. Coming face to face with Phil, I went over all his features. It seemed like forever since I saw him. Tonight his hair looked more manageable and his tattoos were on full display. "I'm fine, I got out of the line of fire in time." I held up my cup. "No spills."

"Good." He nodded and began to study me. "You're not from around here, I would have definitely remembered someone like you."

 _Let the flirting begin._ "Oh really?" I laughed. "And why is that?"

"Because you're gorgeous, and I would have made sure you were at this party with me and no one else."

Okay, so Phil is a lot more bolder than he used to be. "I may not have accepted your invitation."

With a large smile he stepped closer. "You would have."

I tried to decipher if this was beer confidence talking or if he changed during the course of our relationship. Either way, I didn't get to make a conclusion because he was being summoned by a frat guy.

"I'll find you later," he said and gave me a suggestive smirk.

Watching him leave, I took a moment to overcome the surprise of our interaction. I was still debating with myself if I approved of this new version of Phil. After searching the house some more, I found Crystal and Lacey sitting on a couch in one of the rooms. They were chatting up a girl I recalled from school but was vague on who she was.

"Hey, great party," I said as I sat next to my blonde friend.

"Thanks." She nodded. "Are you going to the local college here?"

"Out of state."

Lacey arched an eyebrow at me and I could tell she was sizing me up. "Who are you?"

"Relax Lace, she's friends with Tony." Crystal looked to me and squinted her eyes. "I don't remember your name."

Giggling at my friend's confusion, I addressed Lacey. "I'm Heather."

"I'm Lacey." She pointed to Cris. "That drunken fool is Crystal. And this," she gestured to the other girl at her side. "Is Annette."

After the introductions, we eased into a more comfortable conversation. We talked about school, music, fashion, and I was loving every minute of it. It felt like old times, like nothing changed. It was so normal that for a little while I forgot about my current circumstances. Reality came back when Phil entered the room.

I watched as he came up behind Crystal and gently slid an arm around her neck. My friend smiled up at him and he leaned down, planting a kiss on her lips. My eyes widened at the sight and my stomach clenched when I realized the truth. Crystal and Phil were together.

When his mouth left hers, he looked at me with a lazy smile. "Who's this?"

Crystal leaned back into the cushions and grabbed my hand with a grin. "This is my new friend Heather." Touching her boyfriend's arm, she addressed me. "And Heather, this is my amazing boyfriend, Phil."

"Hi," I replied, still shocked at this new revelation and more than a little pissed he flirted with me.

"Heather, welcome. Here..." He took the cup from my hands. "Let me get you a new one, you're running on E."

Watching him walk away, I couldn't believe him and Crystal were together. She always made it seem to me that he was not her type. Wanting the scoop, I leaned closer to the blonde so she could hear me over the music. "So, how did you and Phil meet?"

Her mouth formed a smile that lit up her whole face. "I actually met him at the mall." She laughed. "It was love at first sight. I was going to meet Lacey when I saw Phil hanging out with your friend Tony. Tony promised he would introduce me if I brought some friends along to meet them. So, my friends got to meet his friends and I got to know Phil, he bought me a cookie and the rest is history."

My mouth became dry. Phil was the guy, the guy my best friend wanted all along but never admitted to. She stepped out of the way for my happiness. I didn't know whether to hug her or strangle her. Going with option A, I wrapped my arms around her and smothered her in a hug. "You're a good friend." I whispered, knowing she would never hear over ruckus in the house.

Phil came back with my drink and I downed it quickly, much to the humor of the girls who sat with me. I made the decision that I was just going to have fun and enjoy the rest of the time I had with my friends. I was also going to ignore Phil.

Hollering and clapping from across the room caught my focus. I shook my head and laughed at the dark haired vampire who was lining up his shot. Of course Damon would be playing beer pong. Catching my gaze, he gave me a wink and threw his plastic ball perfectly into a full cup. More cheering and drinking followed at the table.

Hearing a familiar guitar intro. Lacey stood up and latched her hands onto mine and Crystals. "Hell yeah, It's Petty."

Pulling us to the center of the room, the three of us began to dance. Listening to the song I knew so well, I closed my eyes and swayed with my arms in the air. Shaking my head from left to right, I took in the harmonica sounds and could hear the rest of the room singing out 'last dance with Mary Jane'.

Giggling, I found it funny that things didn't change that much, we always were Tom Petty fans. An arm wrapped around my waist as the girls and I all sang together. "Well, I don't know, but I've been told... you never slow down, you never grow old." I looked at them and laughed as they weren't expecting me to join in for that part. It was our favorite line.

I felt like I was floating, dancing on a cloud and taking in the music.

"You're sexy like this, Cherry."

I heard his voice, but it sounded so far away. I felt his chin on my shoulder and for some odd reason it didn't bother me. The dancing was just to much fun.

"Hey." I smiled at the blurry image of Damon's face that was in front of me. "Are you okay?" the face asked.

"Hm," I hummed and felt hands on my cheeks.

"Cherry, how many drinks did you have?" I continued to hum at him. "Heather," his tone became harsher and I frowned. "How much did you drink."

"Two." I could hear myself slurring. "Just two." That seemed odd for me, I knew I couldn't be feeling drunk off two beers. Shrugging, I realized I didn't really care.

A slow motion Damon held something red in his hand and brought it to his nose. He's so weird. What was is it with Vampire's sniffing everything. He's like a beagle. I wonder if he would play fetch with me.

One moment I felt warmth seeping through me and the next I was being hit with cool air that lingered of the tide. "Why are we out here?" I asked realizing we were standing out front of the house. Feeling the dizziness from having moved so quick, I tried to gain my balance. "I don't feel so good."

With a grunt, Damon crossed his arms. "That would be the Rohypnol in your blood stream."

"Someone roofied me?" I asked and felt myself stumble before the vampire caught my arm. "Who would do that?" That didn't make any sense. I looked to the blue eyes across from me. "Oh, Damon, you didn't roofie me, did ya?"

He gave me an affronted look. "Have you seen me? Does it looks like I need help that department?"

"No." I shook my head. "I know you're pretty." He smirked at my reply. "But you did compel Caroline... wait now it's Tina. I so wanted you to be with Caroline, I was a Daroline fan, now you turned it into a Dana or Tamon. It doesn't work, I don't like it."

Damon cut off my rambling with a sigh. "Heather, this is very important," he said, his face taking on a stern look which I decided to imitate. Rolling his eyes at my childishness, he laid his hands on my shoulders. "Who gave you the beer?"

"I gave me a beer, I wanted a beer so I gave myself a beer," I said causing him to let out an annoyed groan. "Then Phil refilled it. Re-Phil." I laughed at that, that's so funny.

Backing away from me, Damon looked frightening. "Phil's gonna die."

"What?" I quickly grabbed his arm. "You can't do that, you can't kill Phil." I laughed again, rhyming is fun. Trying to get rid of the fogginess I felt, I shook my head. "No dead boyfriends, Crystal loves him and she deserves love."

Damon growled. _Hot damn, he actually growled._ "He roofied you."

"He wouldn't do that. He cared about me." I felt myself leaning on Damon. It was so hard to piece everything together. "He wouldn't do that to Crystal. The bastard better not be trying to cheat on Crystal." A million emotions were running through me, my head was spinning and everything felt so confusing.

Recollection hit me as I spotted Phil's car across the street. "He loves that car." Staring at it, I questioned whether he would really do something like this. Was Phil the type of guy who roofied girls? Knowing how I felt right now, and recalling the drink he put in my hands, the evidence was making that a yes. A surge of hot anger ran through me and suddenly, the car exploded into a ball of fire.

Damon quickly pulled me behind him, as a few people out front of the house screamed in surprise. Staring at the flaming car in shock, I latched onto the vampire shielding me. "Damon," I said shakily. "What did you do?"

"That, my little sundae topping," he said and pointed to the car, "was all you."

It was impossible, there was no way I could have caused that. Or was there? I was in 'Vampire Diaries' world after all. "I did that?"

Receiving a nod from Damon, I looked upon the destruction I supposedly caused. Before I could help myself, a giggle escaped my lips causing the vampire to look at me like I was crazy. "I blew up Phil's car," I said and laughed until I felt myself wanting to cry. "I blew up my boyfriend's car," I whispered. "The boyfriend I stole from my best friend. The one who I didn't know she liked at the time because she never told me, but I still went out with him anyway because he was cute. Now, I blew up his car."

"Look, Cherry, everything is going to be okay."

"No it's not." I shook my head. "Ya know, I had my first real make-out session in that car. Yeah, it was mediocre and the stick shift poked into my thigh the whole time but it was still a memory. A memory that I just incinerated. Like my whole life, one little drowning in the tub and my whole existence went kaput."

Damon looked at me with concern and I hated it. I hated feeling this vulnerable and out of control. I had no idea what was wrong with me and I didn't even want to try to comprehend the event that just took place. I felt myself sway with another wave of dizziness and my limbs felt numb.

"Sit down here," Damon said and I didn't even realize he had lowered me to the ground. "I'm going to go deal with Phil." Before I could open my mouth, he cut me off. "I'm not going to kill him, I'm just going to make sure he doesn't do something like this ever again."

"Make him be a good boyfriend to her," I said, my voice no longer sounding like my own.

"I will."

Resting my throbbing head in my hands, a dreamy sleep like state filled me. I can feel myself being lifted up and I snuggled into my savior's shoulder. "You smell so good."

Hearing a chuckle that I knew was Damon's, the cocky vampire answered with a simple "I know."

"My egotistical chuckaboo," I murmured, wanting nothing more than to sleep.

~[^^^]~

Swallowing roughly and raising my heavy lids, I found the images of red numbers coming into focus. The foreign alarm clock read 10:38. Slipping a hand from under the covers, I raised it to my very sore head.

"It's about time you got up."

Opening one eye, I spied Damon sitting in a chair across the room as he played on his phone. I pulled the covers closer to my body and tried my best to sit up. From what I could tell, I was still in my dress from last night and somehow Damon is sitting in my hotel room. "What happened last night?"

"What do you remember?" he asked and placed his phone on the table beside him.

Furrowing my brows and trying to ignore my headache, I went over the events I recalled. "I was going to a party, you showed up." Not wanting to explain my connection to the people at the party or the revelation about my boyfriend and best friend dating, I stretched the truth. "I made some new friends, danced and then..." why couldn't I remember anything else?

"You were roofied," he finished.

"What?" I sat up straighter in panic.

"Calm down, nothing happened. I caught on pretty quick and brought you back here before tucking you in and getting my own room." Leaving his spot, he sat down on my bed and handed me a bottle of water. "You could probably use that."

Nodding, I unscrewed the cap and took a long sip. "That's it, nothing else happened?"

"Nope," he said and then paused. "Well, I did get the phone number of a sexy brunette I met, she had the nicest pair of..."

"Spare me." I put my hand up to stop him.

Grinning at me, he leaned back and got comfortable on the bed. "Fine, let's change the topic." Crossing his hands behind his head, he looked at me expectantly. "It's later."

Stopping mid-sip. I knew what he wanted. I promised to tell him what I knew about him being a vampire. "What do you want to know?"

"Let's start with you waking up from your coma and go from there."

Mentally freaking out, I didn't expect this response. How could he possibly know about all the other stuff? I was just suppose to make up something easy like, I heard about vampires and put it together myself. I already knew he had trust issues, but right now, he would see me as nothing more than a big giant threat to his secret. Inching away from him, I tried to stall. "Isn't this a conversation Stefan should be privy to?"

"Please..." Damon rolled his eyes. "He's to busy fawning all over his girlfriend to pay attention to anything."

That woke me up. "Stefan has a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, didn't you know?" he questioned with a smirk. "Him and Elena, there're two peas in a pod. She's Lois Lane to his Superman."

"They're not dating," I said unsure of how true that was now.

"Oh..." Damon pushed himself up on his elbows. "Stefs been keeping secrets." A chuckle that vibrated through the whole bed made me feel worse. "So, that is why Elena feels so guilty," he said as if having a light bulb moment. "Just the other day, at the boarding house, she was going on and on about how she feels horrible for doing this to you and was hoping you wouldn't catch on."

Nausea stirred in my stomach. I wanted to argue that the two of them together couldn't be possible because Bonnie was right, they would have told us... but my words fell flat. Elena was the type to let guilt guide her actions. Why would Stefan not tell me though? Feeling the pain of betrayal, I covered my face with my hands. "I feel sick."

"You probably should eat something," Damon suggested before standing up. "I'll run down to the diner and pick you up breakfast. When I get back, we'll talk." Rummaging through my purse, he pulled out my car keys and dangled them in front of me. "I'll take these so you don't get any ideas."

Watching him walk out the door, I pushed the covers back and scrambled to the window. When I saw his car leave the parking lot, I ran about the hotel room and gathered all my belongings. I was not ready to have the 'tell all' conversation with Damon. It was cowardly, but I needed more time to get my thoughts straight. Pulling the door shut behind me, I raced to my car and prayed it was open. Relief flooded my senses as I slid into the drivers side. Thanking my lucky stars for always being prepared, I pulled out my extra set of keys from the glove-box and started up my Jeep.

As I pulled onto the expressway, I felt a lump in my throat. Not only would I soon be saying goodbye to New Jersey, but to my old life as well. Even when I do get back to it, it would never be the same again. For now, I will live a charade and no longer pay any mind to the feelings I once held for Stefan Salvatore.

* * *

A/N: Fear not my Steather shippers, it's just a bump in the road. So, you all got to see a bit of Heather's old life and things did not go as planned. What did you think of the Damon/Heather interaction? Fav/Follow/Review! :D

*Jimmies are another name from sprinkles. It's a northeastern thing.


	11. Save The Dead

Musical Inspiration:

She Used To Be Mine by Sara Bareilles

Wicked Games by Parra for Cuva ft. Anna Naklab

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 11

Save The Dead

~[^^^]~

Letting my pen tap against the paper of my notebook, I listened to the slow song playing through the jukebox. _Damn this mood music._ I swear this town has it's own soundtrack. Checking the time on my phone, I see I have another 20 minutes left of my break. The Grill has actually been pretty slow this evening. My eyes lingered to the empty space that my social media app used to hold. After the events of my weekend trip, I didn't trust myself to not keep checking up on my old friends. Not letting those thoughts consume me, I shook my head.

 _Focus Heth._

Looking at what I had written so far, I try to think of the names I know I am missing.

 **Zach**

 **Stoner kids at graveyard**

 **Vicki**

 **Lexi**

 **Bonnie's gram**

 **All tomb vamps**

 **Caroline**

 **That chick Tyler pushed**

 **Mason**

 **Rose**

 **Isobel**

 **John**

 **Jenna**

 **Elena**

The majority of the names I've listed had one thing in common with their death, Damon. He needed to be handled, but I was stuck on how and when. Knowing I had two seasons worth of knowledge was not helping me out at the moment. As time past in Mystic Falls, it was becoming harder to gauge what episode I was technically in. Sure it was easy in the beginning, most people do watch the first couple installments more times than once. I myself had to re-watch the series when I wanted to get Lacey hooked on the show. Now though, only certain events stuck out and paved the way for what was coming next. I knew some of the finer details were being glossed over.

"So, this is where you have been hiding."

I looked up and smiled when I saw Bonnie. Watching as she sat across from me in the booth, I quickly shut my book to hide the evidence of my thoughts. Noticing the new hoops she was sporting, I focused on her ears. "Cute earrings," I pointed out.

"Thanks. They're new," she replied while touching the edge of the gold. Resting her hands back on the table, she leaned in on her elbows. "Wanna tell me why you've been dodging people all day?"

Trying to look as innocent as possible, I shrugged. "I wasn't dodging, I've been busy."

Tilting her head, an eyebrow arched in suspicion. "I asked you how your weekend was this morning and before I could get an answer, you bolted." With a pause, she tapped her nails on the table. "Then, at lunch, the moment Stefan and Elena walked into the cafeteria, you took off again." Concern flooded her eyes. "What's going on with you?"

"I'm sorry Bon, I didn't mean to make you feel that way." Sighing, I knew I couldn't explain much about what had occurred on my Jersey trip, and I didn't really feel up to being the one that ratted out Stelena's secret romance. "I appreciate you covering for me. The trip out of town was needed and I was able to sort out some things. I'm okay though, I promise."

"If you're sure?" she said with a skeptical tone. "Elena was worried too."

I couldn't help the sudden scowl that took over my features.

Bonnie smacked the table with her hand. "See, that... that right there tells me it is an Elena problem."

Sneaky witch. "It's not a problem per say..." _I'm just crushing on her secret boyfriend that she didn't bother to tell anyone she had._ "It's really not important, it was something stupid anyway. I just have a lot on my mind." _Yup, that's me, Miss Passive-Aggressive._ I could tell by the pursing of her lips that she wasn't buying it, but she didn't push it. "So, do you plan on going to the Founders' party?" I ask, hoping to change the subject.

"Right, that's this week isn't it?" She nodded her head in thought. "I'm not sure, I guess I will talk to the girls and see what everyone is doing. How about you?"

"I don't know, I've never been to one," I said and realized my error.

"Technically, you have." Bonnie turned her head and nodded to the table occupied by the Lockwoods. "Last year, you and Tyler."

I tried to pull Bonnie's attention back to me when I noticed the youngest Lockwood looking up. "Don't stare," I scolded. "I specifically took my break when I saw them come in. I didn't need to serve a side of uncomfortable with their burgers."

The witch laughed. "Oh, I think Vicki is handling that all on her own."

Peeking over at Vicki's lingering form, I couldn't help but giggle as well. The poor girl was trying so hard to be noticed. My laugh faded though as my view became obstructed by an overly eager blonde.

"Hi Heather," Tina said loudly, standing two tables over, swinging her arms back and forth like a child. "I like your hair in that French braid. It shows off you shoulder bone thingies." She pointed to her own collarbone.

"Um, my clavicles?" I gave her a strange look which mimicked Bonnie's. "Thanks." Watching her shrug in response, she continued to stand a good distance from the table. "Was there something you wanted? You can come closer so you don't have to raise your voice."

"No, No." She shook her head. "I have to stay at least 5 feet away from you at all times. But I did come to deliver a message."

Damn, this has to be something to do with Damon. Stefan and Elena were not the only ones I've been hiding from. Clearing my throat, I moved my hand in a 'get on with it' gesture. "Well, what is it?"

"Look at the bar." She smiled and hitched her thumb in it's direction.

Peering over the tables, my body stilled when Damon's form came into view. He sat turned on a bar stool with his bourbon and a smile. Holding his glass up in a cheers salute, he patted the stool next to him. "Great, just great," I said under my breath. Giving Bonnie a sigh, I stood. "I better go see what Damon wants." After tightening the strings of my apron, I scooped up my notebook. "Are you going to stay or..."

"She'll be fine," Tina cut in and passed by, giving me a wide berth. "I will sit with Bonnie and fill her in on the most delicious gossip I heard."

Watching the witch's eyes widen, I gave her my most sympathetic stare and mouthed a 'sorry' to her.

Walking towards the bar, I dragged my feet and dreaded the conversation that I knew was about to happen. Once there, I took a seat next to the vampire I had been avoiding. "Damon," I greeted.

"You know," he began and continued to look forward, "I couldn't help but overhear you discussing the upcoming Founders' party. I haven't been formally invited yet." He turned towards me and tilted his head forward. "Just throwing that out there."

Acting as if I hadn't heard his comment, I asked the question I already knew the answer to. "What did you want Damon?"

"Oh, I think you know the answer to that, Cherry," he replied. "You did leave me high and dry in New Jersey. The second I left to pick you up some lovey croissants, you ran faster then a counselor at Camp Crystal Lake. So..." He squinted his eyes in curiosity. "How were you able to leave?" Pausing, he took a guess. "Hot-wiring?"

"Extra set of keys in the glove-box."

"Handy," he commented and took a sip of his drink.

Letting out a long breath, I tried to formulate some level of trust. "Okay... no games, right? Just straight truth?"

Turning towards me in his seat, Damon took a finger and made a lazy crisscross over his heart. "No games."

Searching his face for any sign of deception, I was satisfied when it seemed he wasn't bullshitting me. _Time to spill the beans._ "So... yes, I know about vampires," I said in a low voice. "I know that you and Stefan are ones and I know everything that entails. Compelling, blood, and nifty daylight rings. Stefan doesn't know I know, but now that I told you..." I cringed when the memory of what he did to John popped in my head. He got chucked off a balcony for revealing he knew about Damon being a vampire. I quickly looked at my hand, no Gilbert ring there to bring me back to life. Pleading seemed like my best bet. "I'm hoping you won't make me your next victim, I swear I won't tell anyone. You have my word."

Damon rolled his eyes and snorted. "I'm not gonna kill you, Cherry." He smirked when he could see that I visibly relaxed at his vow. "I wouldn't mind a nibble though, you do smell delicious."

As disturbing as hearing that may seem, color me intrigued. "Sweet or savory?"

"Definitely sweet," he replied.

Heh. Well, I guess I would rather be compared to a Cinnabon than a Meat Lover's Pizza.

Putting his empty glass down, he slid closer to continue our conversation. "What's up with the other stuff?"

"Other stuff?" I played dumb and waved over Evan, the bartender.

"Yes, I dug up some dirt. I know for a fact you have lived in Mystic Falls your whole life, yet you took a 6 hour trip up north and pulled a Hannah Montana."

Trying to distract myself from teasing him about his knowledge of Hannah Montana, I ordered a soda from Evan and thought about how I wanted to answer. "That's a little harder to explain." Playing with my braid, I came up with an idea. "Alright, let's try this. Pick one of your favorite TV shows."

Staring outward in thought, he faced me with an answer. "True Blood."

"Ugh," I groaned. "Of course you would pick a vampire show." He gave me a casual shrug and I proceeded. "Okay, pretend you are going about your day here in Mystic Falls and the next thing you know, you wake up in Bon Temps. You find out quickly that you are Sookie and Jason's other brother."

He cut me off. "Wouldn't happen."

"I know, I am asking you to imagine it."

He shook his head. "Can't," he said and gave me a lecherous smile, "I would want to do bad things to Sookie." Damon wiggled his eyebrows. "Anna Paquin... hot."

"Ew." My face scrunched up in disgust. "Fine," I grounded out and nodded to Evan, thanking him for the soda he placed in front of me. "You wake up and you are the last remaining relative to Bill Compton. That means you would be right in the thick of things."

"Whatever."

"Okay, so you're told that you were born in Bon Temps, you are already aware of vampires, you're introduced to Sookie, and you will meet Eric. You know the whole storyline, who's the killer, and so on. How do you convince people you know what's going to happen?"

"You don't," he answered simply, "they will think you're crazy."

"But you know you're not." Noticing he was waiting for me to make my point, I cut to the chase. "What if that's me? What if I knew this plot, well the some it. I was my happy little self, Heather Perkins of New Jersey who somehow woke up in a TV show and am now part of this world trying to get back to my own."

"I'd say you're crazy."

Groaning, I placed my head in my hands. "I know what's going to happen," I said under my breath, even though I knew he would still hear me.

"Would you like me to call you Nostradamus?" he joked.

"Look Damon," I said in an aggravated tone, "I know you are not getting it but I'm not crazy. I am going to try and make some changes. I really don't want to see any more death." A chill ran through me when I thought of Tanner. "If you can help me out in that department, I will help you with whatever you need."

"You're going to help me?" He laughed. "What could you possibly help me with?"

Thoughts of the tomb and Katherine played back in my mind. I had every intention of telling him that she wasn't in there but now wasn't the time. Honestly, I think he would still need to see with his own eyes anyway. "Let's just say it might be nice to have an ally on your side while you're working on your current goal."

Eyeing me carefully, He seemed to be able to tell I knew more than I was letting on. "We'll see about that." Standing, he took a last sip of his drink and threw some money down on the bar. "Hey, Cherry... you still having those dreams, the ones you mentioned at dinner?"

Surprised he had even overheard about them, I nodded. As vague as the dreams were, I still had them about those three kids practically every night. Mostly I would remember the activities they engaged in over conversations. "Yeah, I am." I replied, curious as to why he would bring them up.

"Then, maybe all this..." He waved his hand around. "Isn't as 'land of make believe', as you think it is."

With that cryptic message, he exited The Grill and left me to ponder what exactly he meant by that. Finishing my soda, I stood from my seat, and went to work on finishing the second part of my shift.

~[^^^]~

Fingering another folder that ended up being full of tax returns, I closed the filing cabinet and went towards Robert's desk. I had set my alarm extra early this morning so I could rummage through my temp-father's home office. So far, my search was not turning out well. Attempting to be as quiet as possible, I pulled out a drawer and shuffled through its contents. "If I was a death certificate, where would I be?"

"Hey, Sweetie," my father's voice interrupted, causing me to jump backwards. "You're up early. What are you doing in here?"

Seeing him standing in the doorway, I tried to come up with some type of an excuse. "Um." _Think of something, idiot!_ My mind went completely blank.

"Are you looking for things for the Founders' display."

 _Thank you sweet universe above._ "Yes," I burst out and realized I needed to cool my tone. "Yes, that is exactly what I'm doing."

"Your mom used to keep all that stuff in the basement," he said and smiled at the thought of her.

My brows raised in surprise. "We have a basement?"

Laughing, he gestured for me to follow him. "I'll show you."

Walking past the kitchen, he opened a door that I always assumed was a closet. Robert flicked a switch and the bulb lit up the stairs leading downward. _No shit, look at that, we do have a basement._

Plastic storage bins curtained one of the walls, stacked and labeled neatly. I was impressed by the organization of my mother. "Wow, look at all this."

Robert nodded as he pulled down a few bins. "Your mom was proud of her heritage. She collected a lot of information about the Sparks' line." Squinting his eyes to read what was in each container, he pointed to the ones he lined up on the floor. "You should start with those. They are labeled Founding Family."

Kneeling down on the carpeted floor, I snapped the lid off the closest bin. Interested in the antiques scattered inside, my eyes zeroed in on a worn leather bag. I lifted it out and placed it in front of me.

"I believe that is Gideon Sparks' medical bag, he was the town doctor," Robert said while looking over my shoulder. "I think Carol would be interested in that."

Carefully opening the metal clasp, my eyes widened at the tools within the bag. Saws, tubing, clamps, and the strangest looking metal device I have ever seen sat inside. Holding the odd item in my hand, it resembled a gun with two cigar cutters on it's sides. "What on earth is this?"

Reaching for a laminated card that lay on top of the bag, Robert began to read. "Oh... it's a tonsil guillotine."

Both of us grimaced. "I'm thinking there were a lot of folks back then that opted to walk around with swollen tonsils," I said as I placed the tool back in it's rightful spot.

Robert nodded. "I agree." Moving things around in the bin, he pulled out a bound book. "Here's something you should look at. It's the Sparks' family tree."

Scooting closer to my guardian, I took the book and laid it across my lap. Starting at my name, I worked my way up.

Robert pointed to the very first branch. "See there, that is the original Founding Family."

 **Gideon Sparks (B- 1824) (D- 3/2/1898)**

 **Lorena Sparks (B- 1828) (Deceased)**

So they were one of the first couples to setup shop in Mystic Falls. I guessed there was no recorded history of the wife's death. My eyes scanned to the names of their children below them.

 **Delilah Sparks (B- 12/28/1846) (D- 12/28/1857)**

 **Daphne Sparks (B- 12/28/1846) (Deceased)**

 **Lucas Sparks (B- 5/1/1849) (D-10/24/1936)**

Delilah and Daphne must have been the twins Stefan mentioned, he probably knew them well. Seeing the date of death for one of the twin girls, I blanched. Jeez, she was only 11 and died on her birthday.

"Daphne." Her name slipped through my lips but it was not loud enough for Robert to hear. There was that name again. It was a name whispered in dreams and in my first meeting with Stefan. A chill made it's way through me at the strong coincidence. It made me wonder what the connection was to this girl. I frowned seeing that her branch ended with her never being wed.

Shaking my head to clear the thoughts, I continued to trace through all the names from Lucas's wife, to his three children, and onward. As I flipped through pages, more information was given on each person in the Sparks' line and most included a picture. I skipped to the back of the book but found no pages on the original family. "That's odd, the pages are missing."

Robert looked over my shoulder and hummed in thought. "Your mother may have removed them for framing. She used to lend stuff to the historical society all the time. I'm sure they'll turn up."

I nodded in acceptance and watched as he removed the physician's bag. "I'm going to take this to my office and have it ready for Carol, I'm sure someone will be by to pick it up for the display."

"Okay, I'm just going to look through the rest of this stuff," I said, focusing back on the treasure before me.

"When you're finished just make sure you put everything back." He turned to leave before pausing. "There is some old journals in there you may find interesting if you're looking to read up on your history."

"Okay, Nudad, thanks."

Rolling his eyes, he reminded me not to be late for school and went back upstairs. Sifting through items, I gripped a journal that was labeled to belong to Lucas Sparks. Putting it aside, I decided to keep it for later reading.

Seeing all the antiques before me, I realized that my mother must have really been into this stuff. Knowing she had been the one to collect and organize our families history made me feel closer to her. With a smile, I decided I would give this history thing a try.

Knowing the best way to start, I reached for my cell phone and began to text.

 **Have you been invited to the Founders party yet?**

~[^^^]~

Rubbing my hands over my bare shoulders, I tried to warm myself from the cool breeze that blew in from the opened front door. While the Lockwoods stood to greet each of their guests, I pondered what the resident vampires would have done had the owners of the house been elsewhere. It probably would have entailed a multitude of compelling. With that train of thought, I reminded myself that I really needed to get Robert on some vervain.

Speaking of my pseudo-father, I watched him try to subtly flirt with Sarah, The Grill's manager. She had been Robert's date to this Founders' party. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that yet. Here was yet another blonde trying to take up my mother's place. True, she was nothing like my step-monster in Jersey, but somewhere, I felt my mother was alive and it left a bad taste in my mouth to see Robert moving on.

Dragging my narrowed eyes away from her, I eyed the lavish stylings of the Lockwood home while I waited for my date to bring me a much needed beverage. The smell of fresh cut flowers permeated the air and I mentally began to recite each of the flora from memory. When I got to Aster or Astereae, knowing they were good for spells having to do with emotions, my thoughts were halted. A familiar brunette's voice came from the direction of the front door.

Backing myself into a corner, to stay out of view, I watched as Elena and Stefan entered the house. I didn't have any doubts that they would be here together. News would probably come to light soon that they were coupled. It still didn't make me feel any better since my last run-in with the duo. Thinking back to the day prior, I couldn't help but ponder that I should have handled the situation better.

...

Trying to keep up with Caroline, Bonnie and I skirted around people in the crowded hallway. When the school bell rung, ending the last class of the day, the blonde hurricane demanded we follow her as she gave us bit of information on her current plan.

Finally reaching her side, I let out a staggered breath. "Please tell me again why we are actively searching out Tina Fell?"

"Because she is friends with Jeff." Caroline replied, giving me a 'duh!' look.

Still not getting it, I continued. "And who's Jeff again?"

Caroline let out an annoyed sigh before slowing down her speed. "Jeffrey Hamilton, he's Tyler's cousin. His mother, Grace, was a past Miss Mystic Falls winner and is on the judging panel. The pageant is only 5 months away, so it wouldn't hurt for them to see how dedicated I am."

Understanding where she was going with this, I raised my brows in wonder at her underhandedness. "By dating one of the judge's sons?"

The head cheerleader stopped abruptly to give me her full attention. Not liking my tone, she defended herself. "I don't plan on dating him, just inviting him to the Founders' party."

Bonnie smirked and jumped into the conversation. "Where, he will introduce you to his mother."

"Exactly." Caroline shrugged impassively before starting back up her search for Tina. "You know me, I always go straight for what I want."

Smiling at Caroline's sneakiness, I couldn't fault her devotion. "At least she committed," I whispered to Bonnie who nodded her head in agreement. Once again, we sprinted after our blonde friend.

"There she is," Caroline said, pointing and walking in the youngest Fell's direction.

Tina stood staring at the pictures that lined the inside of her locker. I could barely make out who were in most of the polaroids. The one I did, was a black and white autographed picture with the bold letters of WPKW9. The curly dark haired man looked familiar, but I didn't get to think much on it as she slammed the door shut.

"Tina, just the girl I was looking for," Caroline said and gave her a big toothy smile.

My past stalker took two steps back when she saw me. I rolled my eyes knowing it was Damon's doing with his new 5 feet rule. Once she got her footing, Tina perked up and sent me an enthusiastic smile. "What can I help you with?" she asked, head tilt towards Caroline.

Caroline scooted a little closer to the girl. "I am looking for a date to the Founders' party, and a little birdie told me your friend Jeff is available."

Tina nodded in recollection and her eyes lit up. It looked like she was all for playing match-maker. Before I could see how this was going to turn out, I saw Bonnie's arm shoot up in the air. Confused, I looked to see who she was waving at.

 _Oh no._ She had caught Elena's attention and of course she was not alone. Stefan was dutifully walking by her side. My head quickly looked around for any type of exit from this situation. It wasn't till I felt Bonnie's eyes boring into the side of my head that I realized she was observing me for any type of reaction. Damn that witch. While tuning out Caroline and Tina, I watched as Stefan noticed me and his grin grew in size.

Internally sighing, I fought with myself on how to react. Why did he have to go and do that? This situation would be so much easier if he just acted like an asshole.

"Hey, what are you girls up to?" Elena asked, seeming as happy as ever. Turning specifically to me, she continued. "God, Heather, I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages. What have you been up to?"

I shrugged with an air of indifference. "This and that."

Bonnie's stare continued to appraise me. Thankfully though, she took lead of the conversation. "We're just waiting for Caroline, she's trying to get a date for the party," she said motioning to the two blondes talking. "I wish she would just go with us as a group, it's not like we are taking dates."

"Actually, I have a date," I said.

Three 'whats' were replied in surprise and all eyes focused on me. I took a small step backwards over the unwanted attention. "I have a date," I repeated.

While Bonnie's mouth hung open, Stefan furrowed his eyebrows in an unreadable expression. Elena was the first try and interrogate me. "Who are you going with?"

My normal reaction to a situation like this would have been to tell them and be done with it. However, knowing what I now know, well... it was no longer any business of theirs. All those times Elena begged me to be open and honest with her to regain our friendship was nothing but bullshit. The nerve she had to even ask me about anything to do with my life. Pfft. "You have your secrets Elena, now, it looks like I have mine."

She seemed surprised by my response and probably the bitch face I was giving her. Noticing the frown on Stefan's face, I pushed away any guilt I had and turned to Bonnie. "I'll call you later."

Que dramatic exit.

Screw Stelena.

...

Coming out of my flashback, I began to panic when I realized I had been staring towards Stefan while I reminisced and I had officially been spotted. Shoot, they are making their way over. _Run, hide, barrel roll into another room._ My mind told my body to move but it was to late.

"Heather, you look great," Elena said with a friendly but apprehensive smile.

"Thanks," I replied while not bothering to look either of them in the eyes. _Where the hell is my date when I need him?_ I looked around anxiously, I wanted support if I had to face these two. Seeing blue eyes heading in my direction, I sighed in relief. Reaching out to take the glass of champagne he offered, I watched the tension in his shoulders as he stood in front of Stefan and Elena.

"Matt," Elena addressed my escort, "I didn't know you were coming."

Watching Elena look between the two of us, I took a large swig from my glass. "Mm, I invited him." Seeing the surprise on her face did give me a sliver of satisfaction. As Stefan's jaw tightened, Matt shifted nervously. I slid my arm around the crook of his elbow to still him. "He agreed to be my date for the evening."

The silence between the four of us made the music playing from outside louder than usual. When I originally asked Matt to join me, it never went through my mind of how it would affect Elena. Now though, as I studied her expression, I did see a drop of jealousy. It was subtle, but there nonetheless. It may be wicked of me, but I was honestly reveling in it. It wasn't until I caught sight of Stefan appraising me with sad eyes that I loosened my hold on Matt.

'So... this is nice, right? Mrs. Lockwood really knows how to throw a party," Matt said, filling the quiet void.

"Yeah," Elena's voice burst louder than it seem she wanted it to. Embarrassed, she quickly brought her voice to an inside level. "Tyler's mom always goes all out." Seeing Matt nod, she smiled and continued to try and take away the uneasiness of our situation. "Remember last year, we kidnapped Tyler and snuck out early?" she said and the corner of her mouth quirked upward. "We ended up down by the pond and Heather pushed Tyler in."

Matt laughed and jumped in with more of the story. "When Heather tried to help him out, he pulled her in with him."

"And then, they pulled us in after we were nice enough to offer them a hand," Elena added with a giggle.

Matt nodded and smiled. "The four of us were sick for a week after that."

Stefan cleared his throat. "It sounds like it might be hard to top last year's party."

While Elena gave an apologetic smile to Stefan for leaving him out of the conversation, Matt turned towards me. "Sorry, I know it has to be hard not remembering."

I shrugged. "No worries, it's fine." Seeing that my response made him relax, I decided to break up this foursome before things went south again. "I'm really eager to see displays." I turned towards Matt. "Do you mind showing them to me?"

"Yeah, sure." Matt grinned and faced the couple in front of us. "I guess we'll catch you both later."

My eyes lingered on Stefan as my blond friend ushered me through the house.

Once we made it to the Heritage Room that exhibited the Founding Familys' memorabilia, Matt and I slowly made our way around the antiques. I was able to read up on information about each of the pieces and which family they were donated by. Guns, jewelry, woodworkings, paintings... the list went on. Each item held a kernel of history and I found myself completely immersed in each story they told. Matt, who had been pointing out certain facts, stalled momentary. When I saw that he seemed to be in deep thought, I nudged him with my shoulder. "You alright there?"

"Yeah." He nodded his head at a fast pace before his features became nervous. "I um, I just wanted to say thanks for inviting me. I um..." He paused and looked as if he was having a debate in his mind. "I'm glad we could come together as _friends_ ," he said, the last word emphasized and coming out slower than usual.

I tried to hold back my smile. Matt is so cute. I decided to put him out of his misery. "Yes Matt, this is only as friends. No need to get weird about it, I know you are still head over heels for a certain brunette."

He let out a relieved sigh. The grateful smile he gave me only lasted a moment as he spotted said brunette across the room. Sadness clouded his eyes. "Wouldn't make a difference anyway, I think a Salvatore has taken my place."

I frowned seeing Elena standing closely next to Stefan. They were holding a conversation with Damon and Tina, playing out the Founders' party registration scene. I let out my own sigh as I admired Stefan from afar. "Yeah, unrequited love is a bitch." Placing a hand on Matt's shoulder, I gave it a squeeze. "We need to find you a nice girl, Matt."

After getting our fill of Stefan and Elena longing, I gently pushed Matt towards the exit of the room. "Let's go see what Bonnie and Caroline are up to."

...

Time seemed to fly by for the rest of the party. Matt had gone to find Tyler and I felt content to people watch from the corner of the room. Keeping my eye on the back window, I could see Robert dancing with Sarah. Not far away, was one Caroline Forbes dressed in yellow and enjoying the company of Jeffrey Hamilton. It was a new change in the story, and I wondered what would become of it.

I had observed other changes through the party as well. While I expected Tina Fell to take on the active role of Caroline's part, she hadn't danced with Stefan. In fact, Tina had spent barely any time by the Salvatores. She mostly followed around that 'news reporter guy', Logan. While he stalked Jenna through the party, Tina stalked him. The whole situation was odd. Luckily, Tina left the party earlier with a sick stomach. It gave me great relief to know that there was no way she would end up being Damon's late night snack. It was one less complication to worry about.

I tried to keep my eyes peeled for Damon. There were things I needed to warn him about. After thinking more over my Mystic Falls death list, I knew a change I needed to make was not to have Damon locked up. Him not getting vervained meant no graveyard killing spree and no vamp Vicki.

Deciding to check the second floor, I started my way through the house. Before I was able to get to the staircase, a hand wrapped itself around my wrist. Twisting around, I looked into the face that I craved to see but fought to forget.

"Stefan." My breath hitched. "Hi." Looking around, I noticed Elena was no where in sight.

"Hi." He grinned and gently released his hand from my arm. "I was just thinking..."

I waited for him to continue, standing straighter and crossing my arms in hopes of appearing unfazed by his appearance.

"I didn't tell you that you look beautiful tonight."

Slumping slightly, I could feel my facade cracking. Of course, he would make me melt. "Thanks," I replied. "You look..." _Like you could be on the cover of People's Sexiest Man Alive._ "nice too."

With a chuckle, he replied in kind. "Thanks." Taking a step closer to me, he gave me a warm smile that made my heart rate speed up.

 _Abort, abort!_ "I should really go see what my friends are up to." Sliding to move past him, I attempted to make my getaway.

"I miss you."

His soft voice made me stop and close my eyes. The pain that lingered behind his words made me slowly spin around.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" he asked.

"I haven't been avoi..." The worry that leaked through his posture stopped my lips from finishing the lie. With a sigh, I decided on a thimble of truth. "I was giving you some space."

Furrowing his brow, I could tell he was confused. "I don't remember asking for any."

Unable to look him in the eye, I cast my gaze downward and instinctively rubbed the bracelet on my wrist. "Then maybe I'm the one who wanted it," I whispered and took a brave glimpse of his expression.

The troubled look on his face increased. "Did I do something wrong?"

How do I answer that? Technically Stefan hadn't really done anything wrong. He was keeping a secret, one of many, but I would be a hypocrite if I was upset over that. "No, I'm the one who read to much into something." I shook my head. "Let's just leave it at that."

The pout that his lips formed made me feel awful. I continued to try and talk myself around this situation. "Look Stefan, I want you to be happy, I really do, and I get that you want to keep a level of privacy in your life, I just need time to get used to it."

"Heather, I don't understand."

I knew he didn't but I couldn't exactly come out and tell him why I was upset. We were friends and I was avoiding him because he went out and got himself a girlfriend. If I confessed that, it would reveal to much. I didn't need any looks of pity. It was already difficult enough to watch them together. Yes, I was broken up over Stefan, but... my anger at Elena was so much stronger. Trust and honesty, some friend she turned out to be.

Studying Stefan, I could see he was still waiting for an explanation. _If only I could tell you about my developed feelings._ Besides being to late, I knew it would have been selfish of me. I wanted my real home with my mother back. Despite my hurt of not being picked as his love interest, I did miss him as well but I needed to stay away. I needed to come to terms that this is what was suppose to happen.

Breaking from my pause, I gave him a fake smile. "You don't need to understand, it's just me being silly." I waved off his concern with a flick of my hand. Noticing dark brown locks near the stairs gave me all the reason I needed to get out of this conversation. Operation 'Save The Dead' was a go. "Excuse me Stefan, there is something I need to take care of."

Sidestepping around Stefan, I hurried my pace to catch up with Damon. Grabbing his arm to stop him, I looked around the hallway, making sure we were alone. "Did you get it?"

"Did I get what, Cherry? An appetizer? Why, yes I did... you should try the pâté."

Rolling my eyes at his usual snarkiness, I clarified. "Did you get the crystal?"

Damon's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he wiped that emotion off quickly with the narrowing of his eyes.

I tried to explain myself quickly before he went into crazy mode. "I told you, I know stuff. I'm not trying to step on your toes, just give you advance warning."

He edged himself closer, making me back into the wall. "And just what warning might that be."

Deciding to be bold, I found my confidence. "I'll repeat that I am trying to prevent any unnecessary deaths. So, if you make a deal with me to not maim or kill anyone... I will help you with future information, including the tomb."

"You're trying to bargain with me." He gave me a predatory grin. "It's so cute."

I could see this conversation was taking a bad turn. Thinking on my feet, I felt the need to blurt out proof. "The crystal you have belongs to Emily Bennett. She trapped a spell in it that saved all the vampires from the fire and kept them safe in the tomb. You only care about one though. Katherine."

Seeing the look of shock on Damon, I could tell I was getting through. "Um, oh..." I snapped my fingers in remembrance. "Today, Stefan put vervain in your alcohol. You caught on though and poured your drink out." I grimaced at the thought that I shouldn't remind Damon of his brother's plan. I did have to give him some warning though. "Just so you know, Stefan is included in the don't maim or kill list."

Damon rolled his eyes in contempt at the mention of his brother. "Say I agree to this," he began and crossed his arms. "How can you help?"

"For starters, with the future information I had seen, you originally ended up drinking from someone who was purposely given vervain. You got locked in the cellar of your home and when you finally did get freed, you killed a bunch of people." While I watched Damon rub his chin in thought, I added my own. "My advice would be start drinking from blood bags and find somewhere else to reside for the time being."

"Noted, what else?" he questioned with a nod.

"Um... I know, protect that crystal like your life depends on it. Emily will be out to destroy it and from what I seen, she did."

Arching one of his brows, Damon gave me a pointed look. "Cherry, you know Emily Bennett is dead, right?"

Returning the expression, I stated, "Damon, you know this is Mystic Falls, right? People have a way of coming back when you least expect it."

Before Damon could respond, the both of us spotted a couple that had entered our hallway for a private chat. Taking my hand, the dark haired vampire towed me along to the living room. I noticed quickly that Elena and Stefan were whispering in the corner.

Damon brought us to a halt when he spotted them as well. Seeing a devious smirk beginning. He squeezed my hand. "Your hands are cold, Cherry."

I suddenly froze with that statement. "What?" Feeling a shudder along my body, the change going on around me drew my attention to the room. Before my eyes, wallpaper changed, candelabras replaced lamps, and the room filled instantly with people.

 _"Daphne, your hands are cold," Damon said as he led me to share a dance._

 _Lifting the corner of my sage colored gown, I followed dutifully along. "Oh, I hadn't noticed." Standing in front of him, I curtsied while he bowed. When the music began we turned and placed an open hand in front of each other. The dance required no touching._

 _"I am to assume that the gloves I found laying about are indeed yours then. I put them in my breast pocket," Damon said and gave his chest a small pat._

 _Smiling, I gave him a nod. "Thank you, I must have misplaced them." Studying Damon, I admitted to myself that he did in fact look handsome on this eve. Still though, I found my eyes set towards the youngest Salvatore. I hoped he would match my gaze, but his affections were concentrated elsewhere._

 _"Am I losing your attention, Cherry?"_

 _Shaking my head, I focused back onto my dance partner. "My apologies, Damon, I did not mean to gawk."_

 _"It's understandable," Damon replied, his own eyes lingering towards the couple. "Stefan's acquaintance with Miss Pierce seem to be deepening at a rather fast pace."_

 _"No matter." I smiled and hoped he would take my response as sincere. I curtsied again as the dance ended. The tapping of a glass attracted our view to the Salvatore elder, Giuseppe._

 _"Distinguished guests, may I have your attention." Waiting momentarily for all those in attendance to gather around, he continued. "On this eve, the celebration of our founding, I would like to share the joy that has bequeathed itself upon my fine line. I would like to announce the uniting of the Salvatore and Sparks families. Please raise your glasses in celebration for the engagement of Miss Daphne Sparks to Mister Damon Salvatore."_

 _The applause ignited, champagne glasses clicked, congratulations were made, and Daphne faded away._

Stumbling back, I released myself from Damon's grip quickly. His normal cool facade became abruptly disturbed. "Cherry," he said, his tone gentle. He reached out for me again, but I pushed him away.

"What the hell are you playing at? You promised no games," I gritted out and tried to keep my anger at bay. I didn't know how he got around my bracelet, but I knew he had to be screwing around with me somehow. Great, now I have an audience. I could see a certain couple looking at me questionably. "Stay out of my head, Damon!"

Finishing my rant, I went to find my father so I could leave this damn party. So help me, if I even see one black crow hanging out by my house, it's getting turned into a headdress.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I added a twist. No worries though, all will be explained later. Glad you guys are digging the Damon/Heather weird friendship and I'm sorry that Heather and Stefan are still on the outs, you know things always get worse before they get better. Question for y'all... is Heather justified in her anger with Elena? I fought with myself over that one. I try to be fair and keep everyone in character .

Please keep up the reviews, they seriously make me stop what I am doing and write (Hence the continued adding, you get an extremely long chapter.)(Extra thank you's to grapejuice101) . Thanks again for the favs and follows. You guys rock!


	12. Photosynthesis

A/N: It has been a while, but the story is still continuing on. I learned my lesson not to post until I have a complete story on my hard drive. :D

For those of you who were worried, yes... the story is still Stefan/OC. For any of my stories, if the couple is listed in brackets, they are endgame.

Thanks for all your continued support.

Musical Inspiration:

Stuck In The Middle With You - by Stealers Wheel

Six Degrees Of Separation - by The Script

* * *

Tracing The Sparks

Chapter 12

Photosynthesis

~[^^^]~

Don't you just love Sundays? My answer would probably differ from week to week, but today, I had off from The Grill. So, yes, I love Sundays.

Aside from my free day of waiting tables, I was excited to finally get down to some digging, quite literally. The greenhouse windows were fixed! Insert crowd applause. While dragging myself downstairs this morning for a quick breakfast, I found a nice little note and a key from Robert. Needless to say, it made my day.

After throwing on some cut off shorts, I changed my top to a pink plaid one that I didn't mind getting dirty and raced out of the house. When I entered the greenhouse, my anticipation fell flat, the condition was more than a little disappointing. Looking around, I could see I had a lot of work ahead of me. Most of the plants were dead and sprouts of weeds took on the appearance of mini fireworks bursting about.

I walked between the wooden rows of tables looking for anything that was salvageable. Coming up with a system of sorting, I moved anything with a bud to the right side of the glassed room. Most of the hanging plants were brown so I knew they were goners but a lot of the trays and peat pots could still be used. Even in their deteriorated state, I could still tell which plants were which at a glance... except for one.

Squinting at the dried leaves, I moved the other pots away to give myself more access. With a gloved hand I ran my fingers along the stem. "And what might you be?"

I knew what it looked like, but the coloring was wrong as well as the leaf size. Letting out a low hum as I inspected it closer, I lifted the pot to separate it from the others. I absently wondered if this is what I had been searching for... the mystery plant that had been making everyone all trippy. "You, little guy, just became my obsession for the day."

At the back of the building I found everything I needed to research. A microscope was the perfect start to begin deciphering the species. I also happened to find an old radio in the corner so I switched it on and got to work. Making the slices I needed, I put them between the slides and focused the magnification.

Sample after sample, I studied. It was fascinating. It was as if the plant on the table shouldn't exist. I felt like Seymour in 'Little shop of horrors'. Awesome musical, by the way. I knew this plant wasn't quite as unique as being dropped off by aliens but it was a mix of something I had not seen before. I was so lost in my thoughts that it took some time to realize that Damon had invaded my greenhouse.

Lifting my eyes from the lenses, I could see Damon looking around with a scrunched up nose. Mister fashion sensitive could not find a place to sit or lean against. It's a freaking plant nursery, it's dirty, what did he expect?

"What, no hello?" he said as he inched into my space. "Gotta say, Cherry, the farmers daughter look you have going on is very vixen of you but... the Bill Nye science guy act, not so much."

Rolling my eyes, I inserted a new slide under the scope and went back to my research. After what happened at the Founders' party I tried to keep my distance from him. I already analyzed the hell out of what that little episode could have been, my conclusion, ignorance was bliss.

Unfortunately, Damon is like those annoying seagulls at the beach with their begging eyes that watch you as you eat. The second you feel sorry for them and give them a crumb... boom, they swarm and you're stuck with them. My crumb happened to be a sliver of uncertainty about his involvement in my little vision. A vision he swore up and down he had nothing to do with.

"C'mon, you're not still mad at me, are you?"

Without looking up, I gave him my reply. "No, I'm trying to move past the whole weird mind thing."

"Is this about yesterday?"

"No," I said and blew out a long breath. Pushing myself away from the desk, I focus on Damon. "But, for the record, when I told you to find somewhere else to stay, I didn't mean my house."

Saturday morning I practically had a heart attack when I woke up to find the dark haired vampire in bed next to me. "Oh, and by the way, I don't appreciate you compelling Robert." The sneaky bugger got an invite into my house.

Damon shrugged. "Well, I had to have him let me in some way. What father would let his teenage daughter hang out with a 24 year old man?"

I shook my head. "That right there, should have given you a clue." Feeling my eyes blur, I gave them a good rub with my palms.

"What are you so fixated on anyway?" he asked, moving closer.

Holding my arm out, I made him stop where he is. "Don't get to close. If I'm correct, this plant in part is of the Verbenaceae family. In layman's terms. Vervain."

That was enough to make him take a step back. "That doesn't look like vervain."

"I know," I said, giving him an wide smile. "I think it's a hybrid."

Damon bristled and one eyebrow arched upward. "Should I be offended that you look overly excited with something that can in fact cause me a great deal of pain?"

"Sorry," I replied, "it's just that the vervain plant is usually insect pollinated so crossbreeding it is mighty tricky to pull off. Somehow though, my mom did and she did so with something I have never seen before. It's very impressive. See here..." I pointed to the only bud left. "The coloring should be a light purple, instead it's a deep crimson. It's like vervain, but on steroids."

Damon continued to put more space between himself and the plant. "Why would your mother be growing that stuff?"

I bit my lip at the very serious question. I had been so concentrated on the 'what' that I never thought of the 'why'. "I don't know."

Damon waved his hands in continue motion. "Finish up, that stuff is creeping me out."

Nodding, I went back to my microscope. As I continued my work, I thought about the Katherine situation. "Have you decided when you are going to open the tomb?"

Damon instantly stopped playing with a hand trowel he was occupying his time with. "Yeah, about that. I may have already tried."

"What?" I asked in surprise, almost dropping my slide in the process. "Damon, please tell me you didn't open a tomb with a hoard of starving Civil War vampires without giving me a heads up."

"Relax." He pushed his hands in a downward motion to calm me in an overdramtic way. "I only went to have a chat with the Bennett monarch. Needless to say..." he paused and the corner of his mouth inched upward, "she was not very receptive to my greeting."

"Yeah, you really should to stay away from the Bennetts," I replied. "I know originally you had to use them because you lost the necklace, but now that you have it... do you really still need them?" Sheila died in the original plot, keeping her out of the whole tomb fiasco would ensure she lived this time.

Damon shrugged his shoulders. "It always came down to the comet, the pendent, and the spell. I suppose any witch could draw the spell from the crystal."

Thinking of other witches in the series, my mind came up with a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone. "Why don't we try Bree? You could get a hold of her and see what she says. If we can use her to open the tomb, we can keep the Bennetts out of this completely." _And you won't end up killing Bree._ "Not to mention, things are already going to get crazy enough when Anna shows up."

He seemed surprised at my knowledge. "Wait, Anna... as in, Pearl's daughter?"

"Mm," I hum and nod. "She wants mummy out and if she doesn't get it, things will get messy in Mystic Falls." Thinking of her reminds me I need to figure out how to handle that. Do we let her get her mom out and if we do, would the woman be okay with letting the other vampires rot? "Oh, that reminds me," I burst out, breaking Damon from his own thoughts. "We need to make a plan regarding the council."

He blinked at me, oblivious.

"Right, you wouldn't know about that yet." His stare quickly turned to annoyance so I prepare for my explanation. "The council is made up mostly of Founding Family members. Their whole goal is to eradicate vampires from Mystic Falls, just like they did back in your day. They know a vampire is in town now because of your psycho killing spree. They are trying to find him... you."

Crossing his arms, the dark haired vampire didn't seem phased by my words. "Okay, so the plan will be that I'll just kill the council members."

"What? No, that is not the plan!" I said, actually, more like squawked. "All you have to do is keep an eye on Logan Fell since he will be getting that watch thingie that can tell who is a vampire. Then, the plan is for you to get yourself on the council so you can have the inside track on them."

"Or that," Damon said with an eyeroll.

Hoping that he in fact was going to take my suggestion over his, I went back to my work... or at least I attempted to. My eyes kept drifting over to eldest Salvatore as he found something fascinating outside the glass planes. I had just started to take down some notes when I heard a snort that made me lose my concentration. Cocking my head in Damon's direction, I watched him continue to stare intently out the window with a smirk on his face. "What are you looking at?"

Glancing over his shoulder at me, his smile stayed in place. "Nothing, just an annoying little bee buzzing around." Dismissing his previous interest, he made his way towards me. "What's with the classical music, Cherry?"

"It's a proven fact that music helps plants thrive." I watched irritated as he fiddled with the radio knob. Finding a song he liked, he took me by surprise when he held out his hand in front of me. "What?" I asked suspiciously.

"C'mon." He winked and took my wrist. "No more plant autopsy, lets have some fun."

Within a second, I was on my feet and being reluctantly spun around by Damon in an upbeat dance. The grin he was sporting was infectious and I couldn't help being swept up in his liveliness. Before I knew it, I was laughing and dancing around with the dark haired vampire. The silliness of it all warmed me. It was good to see Damon carefree. Lively currents passed through me, making me flush and increasing my giddiness. Taking my hand over the back of his shoulder, he continued to move to the music as he led me out of the greenhouse. I guess I was done with research for the day.

~[^^^]~

Hearing the crack of colorful balls on the pool table break up, I shook my head at the blond who should be enjoying his day off. Instead he was once again at the Mystic Grill. "Donovan, don't you spend enough time here?"

Matt lined up his next shot and sunk the 7 ball. "Yeah, because there are some many other cool places to hang out in Mystic Falls."

"Point taken," I said and laughed at his sarcasm.

While I searched my apron and made sure I had enough straws, Matt continued our conversation. "So... I'm guessing you got roped into the car wash tomorrow."

Right, Caroline did give me a speech about that at school. "Yup, I was even told exactly what bikini I had to wear. I'm just thanking my lucky stars she called the color pink for herself." Blue, I can handle blue. If she wanted to walk around the car wash looking like a flamingo, that was on her.

"Well, I'm grateful my clothes choices will be my own then."

I laughed at his feeble male mind. "Don't count on it, I would bring an extra pair of swimming trunks just in case."

I took his snort as reluctant acceptance.

"Heather," Sarah, the manager, called as she came closer to me and smiled brightly, "I think table 3 is ready for their check".

"Okay, I'll take care of it," I replied and watched her leave.

Studying the interaction between myself and Sarah, the corner of Matt's mouth lifted in amusement. "Roberta has been extra nice to you lately."

Instantly, I scowled at him. "Don't call her that." Pretty much all of the waitstaff and kitchen staff had adapted to the new nickname behind Sarah and my father's back.

"C'mon, she might as well be your dad's extra limb, they are always together."

"They're not a couple," I insisted, crossing my arms over my chest in aggravation.

Matt tried again. "But..."

"Absolutely not," I cut him off, "I'm no longer thinking of or discussing my father's love life." I felt my face pucker in repulsion. _Ick!_ I could hear Matt's laughs as I marched away.

At table 3, I thanked them for their patronage and slid their check over the table. They seemed to be in a rush since the man who took the bill handed me cash. Before I could ask if he needed change, three familiar faces appeared at the door. Bonnie, Elena, and Stefan waited for the hostess to sit them.

I found myself crossing my fingers. _Please, don't be in my section, please, don't be in my section._ It was a chant set on repeat. While I robotically finished clearing the table, I tried to watch from the corner of my eye where they were heading. I let out the breath I was holding when they sat down in another waiter's area.

Continuing my rounds, I tried to make myself inconspicuous. There was no need to avoid Bonnie, I knew that, and I hadn't been. We hung out at school, and she confided in me about what happened to her with the candles at the Founders' party. I encouraged her to speak to her grandmother about her witchy side.

As for Elena and Stefan... yeah, I was still in Dodgeville with them. I knew I had been rude, yes... my anger may have lessened a smidge, but mostly, these past 4 days had me embarrassed over what they witnessed at the end of the party.

Prepping up my drink order, I placed all the cups I would need behind the bar. As I looked up, to grab a pitcher, I fumbled it when I realized Stefan was making a b-line right for me. Sighing at the inevitable talk that was coming, I placed both of my palms on the bar.

"Hey," he said, giving me a soft smile, "can we talk?"

"Sure." I nodded and waved him to follow me to the other end of the bar where there were no people. Situating ourselves, I waited for him to begin.

"I know you have been spending time with Damon."

I could see the concern on his face as he made that statement, but also, there was something else I couldn't quite place. "More like your brother has been spending time with me."

His green eyes creased with worry. "It's not safe to be around him, Heather." He leaned in making sure I could see the seriousness of his face and continued, keeping his voice low. "He's not stable, he dangerous."

My heart actually sputtered knowing he cared. I wanted to reach out for his hand, to comfort any of his uncertainties, but I stopped myself. _Gawd, I'm such a sap anymore._ "Stefan don't worry about me, him and I... we have an arrangement."

Stefan's lids narrowed. "What kind of arrangement?"

I shrugged and kept things vague. "I'm helping him with something and he's helping me."

"Damon doesn't help anyone but himself, Heather," he insisted, shaking his head as if to make his point stronger. "He'll turn on you. You don't know what he is capable of."

Oh, I know more than you think. Time for the bombshell. "Stefan, I already know everything." I stared at him intently, letting him feel the weight of my words.

He looked stricken and doubt flooded his expression. I forced myself to lean back and put some more space between us.

"When you say everything," he began.

I interrupted and finished his thought for him. "I mean, I know it **all**."

I could tell he was at a loss for words, and I wouldn't pressure him to speak any. I'm sure he would think the vampire secret would be the most cause for my separation from him, so I wanted to ease his mind. "I don't care that you're a vampire, Stefan." No, your vampire secret didn't bother me, it was your Stelena secret that hurt like hell.

His eyes which were previously looking downward snapped to my face. I smiled at his features that now looked at me in awe. His shoulders relaxed in relief and his smile spoke volumes of gratitude.

And that's all the Stefan time I can deal with today. I didn't need an excuse to leave as we both saw Jenna eyeing us curiously from the other end of the bar. It appeared she was on a date with Logan. "I should get back to work," I said and grabbed some more pitchers. "Bye."

Leaving quickly, I didn't give him a chance to respond. As I finally filled up glasses of soda, I spotted Stefan heading back to his table to a waiting Bonnie and Elena. While the group gathered their things to leave, I saw someone enter The Grill that tug at my memory. _Oh, shit, this happens today?_

Placing the drinks on the bar, I rushed over to the older dark skinned man who was about to intercept Stefan. I heard an "I know you" before I stepped in between the pair. Pulling my arm through the crook of his, I attempted to take man's gaze off the target of his words.

"Your table is ready, right over here, sir," I said, leading him away from the group. They seemed surprised by my pushy behavior, especially Elena. As for Stefan, by the look in his eyes, if there were any doubts that I understood about his vampirism, they were now gone.

Scanning the entrance as I handed the man a menu, my anxiety eased when the three of them exited the restaurant. I had completely forgotten about this guy remembering the same young Stefan from years ago.

That was to close.

~[^^^]~

While enjoying the rare warmth for September, I hummed the censored version of 'Don't Trust Me' and tried to tune out Tina Fell. Being she had to stay a decent distant away, the girl rambled at a louder tone so she could be heard. Apparently, she had come down with appendicitis after the night of the Founders' party and had to have surgery.

"Thankfully," Tina ranted on, "my cousin knows how much my skin means to me so she performed the operation. I wouldn't have trusted anyone else. I could have ended up looking like Frankenstein, ya know?"

Nodding my head at her while she lay in a beach chair tanning, I continue to sponge dirt off the hood of a car I am currently washing.

Lifting the bottom of her tank top upward, my stalker began to study her stomach. "I wish I could see under the bandages."

Watching as she poked the one over her belly button, I cringed. "Maybe you should leave the wounds alone so they heal."

"Oh..." She waved her hand in a dismissive motion. "They don't hurt."

"Tina, why don't you run off and find something to do, the adults are talking," Damon said, walking up to my car and leering at me.

Seeing the blonde scuttle away, I turned to Damon. "How about instead of gawking, you help out?"

"Nope," he said, crossing his bare arms that were free of his usual leather jacket, "I'm a paying customer, I get to ogle".

I ignored the fact that the perv was looking down my top and continued to clean the windshield. "This isn't your car so ogle elsewhere."

"Yes, but I paid blonde pigtails over there extra to specifically have you wash my car." He pointed in a direction further back.

I looked to see his convertible parked directly behind the car I was washing. Letting out a groan, I spotted Caroline across the parking lot. She sent me a wink and mouthed 'you're welcome'. Yeah, thanks for nothing, Care. "Coincidently, I was just about to take a break," I said and gave him a snarky smile.

"You do that, Cherry." Taking a CD case out of his back pocket, he wiggled it in front of me. "While you're gone I'll prep some music for the wiggly washy dance you'll be doing on my car."

"Okay, wow." He was delusional. Seeing him smirk made me scoff in disgust. I dropped the sponge in the bucket and walked toward the street, putting a good amount of distance between myself and the dark haired vampire. I guess I should be thankful, although his antics can be infuriating, at least he's here and not in the Salvatore dungeon. There would be no escape, no dead Zach, no drained cemetery kids, and no vamp Vicki. Realizing my success, I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back.

Leaning against a light pole, I gazed over the whole event. Caroline did a really great job, everyone was having fun and cars were lining up. It seemed like most of the important cast .. err, people were here.

Jenna sat on a bench watching Logan, who was arguing with Tina. I wonder what kind of family drama was going on there. It looked like elder Gilbert was curious as well since she was trying to be discreet in her scrutinizing.

Washing a car, Bonnie and Matt seemed to be having a good time as they laughed and flung water at each other. They actually looked really good together. _That's it, I'm shipping it._

At the pay table, Caroline was twisting a pigtail around her finger and flirting with some guy in a muscle shirt. He kinda looked like that one actor from 'Hunger Games', the one named after a bread. _Go, Care._ Maybe romance was in the air.

My eye caught the brunette next to her who wasn't paying attention to the flirting couple. Elena was to busy smiling at Stefan as he washed a car with some football players. I heard myself making my own sigh.

I hadn't spoken to him since I told him that I knew. It makes me wonder if he feels bad for lying to me. Not about the vampire thing of course, but about the Elena thing. I'm sure it will come up eventually so I just need to get over it... him.

"It was Heather, right?"

To my side, I was surprised to see 'fire engine guy'. He was close enough that I could tell he had light blue eyes that rivaled Damon's. He had a nice build and perfectly parted brown hair. His hair was a shade darker than Stefan's, but lighter than his brother's. His smile curved more to the right and... I'm staring without replying. "Um, yes, Hi..."

"Bo," he said, looking amused by my fumble.

"Right, Bo. Bo, the fireman."

"Yeah, it's just the one Bo, not two. I don't moonlight as a clown." He laughed, as did I. "Plus, I'm off duty so we don't need the title."

"Okay, got it, no putting out fires today," I said, tilting my head down in mock seriousness. Actually, having a firefighter on hand might not be such a bad idea with Bonnie around. "So, what brings you here?"

"I'm waiting for my younger brother. He wanted to have his car washed here to help fund the athletics department."

"Really?" I gave him a skeptical look.

Bo laughed at my disbelief. "No, actually, I think his exact phrase was 'Yo, Bro, I gotta stop at the school and get my ride cleansed, they got hotties in bikinis'."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," I said, giggling at his impression.

"Would you like to go out sometime?"

I was quite surprised at the sudden turn of events and I am sure my features conveyed that. "You move fast, don't cha."

"Pardon me if I am being forward, I'm just a 'seize the moment' kinda guy."

I respected the truth from him, and it was refreshing to have someone tell you straight forward what they wanted. My eyes glanced to Stefan. He was laughing. It looked as if he and Elena were sharing their own private joke. This, hanging out with someone new, someone who wasn't part of the main cast, it could be a nice break. The thought of a small pause from the worries and emotions mixed up in the Vampire Diaries sounded to good to be true.

Taking my silence as reluctance, Bo backpedalled. "It could be as a friends, I really want to get to know you."

"Yes." I smiled and nodded. "I would love to."

"That's great," he said excited as he pulled his phone from his pocket. Losing his grip, the electronic device fell to the ground. A small groan escaped his lips as he bent down, his hand went to his stomach.

When he stood up straight, I could see he was favoring his side. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, thank you. I have a pulled muscle," he said, moving his hand away from said muscle, "it will be fine."

After typing in the number I gave him, he lifted the phone and took a photo of me. "What was that for?" I asked.

With a grin, he let me see a view of his phone. "I was just saving it for my contacts."

"And it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm in a bikini?"

"My momma taught me better manners than that," he said and showed me the now cropped picture, "see... only your beautiful face."

I smiled at that, he really was a sweet guy.

"What a bitch," said a new voice, one belonging to a tall skinny teen with short dirty blonde hair and a low brooding forehead.

"Excuse me?" I said while at the same time Bo said, "Whoa, not cool, Mark."

"What?" he, apparently named Mark, asked. It looked like he just noticed I was here. "Oh, my bad. Not you." He pointed at me. "I was talking about some girl who called my car a piece of shit."

"Mark, your car is a piece of shit." Bo said in a joking manner.

I'm guessing this kid was his brother. After a fast playful punch between the two, the younger made a comment back. "At least I have a car, Lance Armstrong."

The oldest turned a tad pink in embarrassment and I instantly felt bad for him. It looked like Mark realized he made his brother seem like a loser in front of a girl. I didn't mind though, yeah it's odd that the guy doesn't drive but it would have been a silly reason to stop a potential friendship. "It's okay, I don't mind driving when we hang out."

Bo was smiling again, so I matched it. I would have remained chatting with him if it wasn't for a certain older man finally showing up. I had been watching for him since I arrived and he just stepped out of his vehicle. Turning to the brothers beside me, I quickly sped out my goodbyes. "Listen, it's been great meeting you... you as well, Mark, I'm Heather, by the way, but I have to get back to washing cars so... call me when you're free."

"I will," Bo said.

With a quick nod, I bolted back over towards Damon. Oddly enough, the dark haired vampire was sitting in his car with his head laying back on the head rest. Black sunglasses shaded his eyes and his long fingers tapped the steering wheel to the beat of his own music from the radio.

"Damon, I need you."

"Don't all the women of the world?"

"Yeah, no time for witty comebacks." I leaned my elbows into the window of his driver side and moved closer to whisper. "I need you to compel the older gentleman over there." I gestured to the man slowly walking towards the pay table. "He was here like 40 years ago or something and remembers seeing Stefan back then."

"What do I care if Saint Stefan is outed from the proverbial vampire closet?"

I gave him a huff of aggravation. _Why does he have to be so damn difficult?_ "There is a chance he could remember you too. Plus, from what I watched before it was him that spilled the beans to Elena. Secrecy is a good thing to have with the council on alert."

"Fine." He got out of the car. "How do you worry about this stuff all the time, it's exhausting."

 _You have no idea, Buddy._ Some days my brain actually hurt from trying to maneuver all these plans in Mystic Falls. With operation 'save the dead', finding my mom, trying to figure out a way to get back home, and the added friend drama, I felt like I was going to have a meltdown.

Satisfied when I saw Damon leading away the old man, I sagged in relief at another task done. With a quick wave to Bo, I picked up my retired sponge and went back to work on washing.

"Please, talk to me!" the undeniable howl of Tina Fell could be heard over the music. A few heads of those around me turned at the disruption. When I zeroed in on the blonde, I found her chasing after a very angry looking Logan Fell. As he crossed the road to his news van, the petite girl followed, quickening her pace. It wasn't until I heard the screeching of tires did my mind register what was happening. With a thump, Tina was down.

"Oh my god," I said and my wet soapy hands cupped my mouth.

Running over with a bunch of my classmates, a large circle of people gathered. The first to get there were checking her status, while others frantically called 911. As one student administered CPR, another was held back while she cried out for her sister. _That's so sad, I didn't even know Tina had a sister._ Logan was beside himself in grief and guilt, yelling out for her to breathe. Jenna stood by his side.

Seeing the broken bloody girl on the ground made me try to focus my eyes elsewhere. This wasn't supposed to happen, so why did it? I racked my brain to try and make sense of it. Was she not here for the car wash in the original show? God, did her eager attempt to be closer to me cause her to be here when she shouldn't have been?

As the dread sunk in, I felt a hand braid it's fingers with mine. It was calming and grounded me from my rush of emotions. Giving a squeeze, I hoped I was able to do the same for them.

The paramedics had arrived and they tried to revive the girl before taking her into the back of the ambulance. It was no use though, Tina Fell wasn't breathing and the only reason I wasn't a self loathing mess was for the simple support of the person gripping my hand. I turned to him and gave a small smile of gratitude. _Thank you, Stefan._

~[^^^]~

When I pulled up to my house, the sun had just began to set. Warm oranges and pinks faded into the background. It seemed unfair to have such a pretty skyline on such a crappy day.

While we were cleaning up the remainder of buckets and towels from the car wash, it had been confirmed from the hospital that Tina Fell was in fact dead. The memorial was set for two days from now and counselors were set to be on the school premises for anyone that needed it.

My remorse was creeping up on me again. Was this always going to be a risk from my meddling with things? I tried to rationalize with myself that if I had known something would have happened to her, I would have stopped it. I knew that to be true.

I think some of guilt stemmed from knowing I wasn't very nice to her. Yes, she was overbearing, but I could have handled it better. _Sorry, Tina, I hope you can forgive me for that._

Skipping the house entrance, I headed towards the backyard. My new plant should help cheer me up. When I unhinged the lock and walked into the greenhouse, I stopped stock-still. There was green everywhere. Hanging plants were in full bloom, plants fully alive grew out and over the trash can I discarded them in. There was not a single plant that was not full and vibrant. Somehow, every dead plant came back to life on it's on accord. The vervain hybrid stood in full beauty with it's crimson flowers.

My mouth opened and closed as I got over my shock. After a few minutes of staring and weighing the thought of dealing with yet another odd phenomenon, I shook my head. "Nope."

I turned around and exited the greenhouse.

* * *

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